The race to vaccinate the country is on.
People are beginning to receive the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna. It’s the second vaccine to receive emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, closely following the one from Pfizer and BioNTech.
Creating a coronavirus vaccine in less than a year is an astounding scientific achievement. But a global shortage of research animals particularly research monkeys could prevent some of the world’s latest life-saving vaccines from ever leaving the lab.
Prior to testing in humans, scientists first conducted research with rhesus macaque monkeys and mice.
Research then proceeded to preliminary human clinical trials to investigate the impact of Pfizer’s vaccine.