Covid jab testing hit by shortage of monkeys
A SHORTAGE of monkeys may slow down the development of a vaccine to combat Covid-19, it has emerged.
Tests on rhesus macaque monkeys are typically the last hurdle before human trials can begin. But as scientists race to advance possible vaccines and therapies, US research centres say there are not enough monkeys to undergo trials.
Speaking on Newstalk’s Pat Kenny Show, Trinity College Dublin immunologist Professor Luke O’Neill said the monkeys are valuable in vaccine development because they share many characteristics with humans.
He said: ‘We have to go through monkeys before we go to humans because the safety issue is always in our minds with vaccines. But the trouble is there’s a massive shortage of monkeys now in North America, and there’s so many vaccines in development, they’re running out of monkeys to test them in.’
Every year, 35,000 monkeys are used in experiments in the US. Prof. O’Neill said he has seen some labs which test on the animals and that they are the ‘best-treated monkeys in the world. But he added: ‘We minimise animal experiments all the time, because obviously it’s the last scenario in a way.’ be directly notified by the HSE and advised to restrict their movements and present for testing on day zero and day seven.
‘There is no blanket policy to test entire classes or years,’ Ms Foley said, adding: ‘The testing strategy will be aligned to the Public Health Risk Assessment which may recommend widespread swabbing within a class or school under HSE mass testing procedures.’
Teachers’ Union of Ireland general secretary Michael Gillespie told the Covid committee that the union had received reports of some schools not satisfying public health requirements in relation to social distancing. He said this must be addressed.