Scientists around the world, including India, are working 24x7 to develop coronavirus vaccine. Recently, Pune-based the National Institute of Virology (NIV) has been given permission to do a clinical trial for coronavirus vaccine on 30 female monkeys. NIV-Pune is one of the translational science cells parts of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
According to the Times of India report, the NIV scientists will be doing clinical trials on monkeys aged 3-4 years. Monkeys will be procured from the Vadgaon forest range in Pune districts.
Forest minister Sanjay Rathod has allowed NIV to do clinical rial for the vaccine on 30 monkeys as it was a government institute, Nitin Kakodkar, principal chief conservator of forests said.
Earlier, researchers from the US government's National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University of Oxford, also carried out a vaccine trial on six rhesus macaque monkeys. However, the trial of the vaccine did not stop the animals from catching the virus.
So far, eleven vaccine trials are underway in India. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, last week, said that four out of the 14 COVID-19 vaccine candidates from India may enter the clinical trial stage in the next three-five months.
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