Hyderabad: First there were the mice and some rats. Then came Syrian hamsters and the rabbits. And finally there were the rhesus macaque monkeys. The fraud for people receiving Covaxin to keep themselves safe against Covid-19, and to stop the spread of the disease in India and elsewhere in the world, has many thanks for these animals.
Not only because these animals are the first one that the three vaccine candidates developed by scientists from the Bharat Biotech received together with the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
Not only because the animals were deliberately injected with the SARS-CoV-2 to test the efficacy of candidate vaccines while in their cages in a high-security laboratory for biosafety hazard 4 at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune not.
But because everyone slept for a while at the end of the study periods before death tests were performed on their bodies by scientists who studied what the virus did to the animals and their organs, and how the vaccine candidates worked to control it. the virus in their bodies.
All of these animals, unknown to anyone outside the NIV laboratory, or the scientists involved in the development of vaccines – in human terms – made the greatest sacrifice to give up their lives so that the people who took them through the trials had, could protect themselves from the virus that probably killed their fragile bodies when the vaccines and the virus fought it in their organs.
In three studies, scientists from Bharat Biotech, NIV and ICMR give many details about how the test was performed and how the immune response to candidate vaccines is – three versions of the then underdevelopment (during the peak of exclusion in 2020) Bharat Biotech’s vaccine was in these animals.
There is a reason why rats, mice, Syrian hamsters and rabbits are bred in laboratory for the studies. As is also the case with the rhesus macaque. The way in which the immune responses to a virus develop in these animals is very close to how a human body responds to a virus. And therein lies the value of testing vaccine candidates on these animals, even if it means injecting the virus to investigate how their bodies respond and how the vaccines work to control the virus in them.
Once the experiment is over, even though it is possible to extract tissue samples from different organs without actually killing the animals, it is a difficult task to maintain and heal them again. Since these animals are bred for the exclusive purpose of testing in laboratories, with the exception of the monkeys, and once the tests are completed, they are not used for any other tests, they are put to sleep in the most humane way possible. . according to a senior scientist familiar with the strict protocols that determine the use of animals in laboratories for such tests.
While the rats, mice, rabbits and Syrian hamsters were bred in the laboratory, the rhesus macaques used to test Covaxin candidates were caught in the wild in Maharashtra.
According to the study on the tests done on the monkeys, permission was obtained from the office of the Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), the state of Maharashtra, for the capture of 30 rhesus macaques from the wild. Because a decline in the macaque population was observed in the permitted areas of Maharashtra due to habitat change ‘probably caused by food shortages during the Covid-19 closure period of India (25 March 2020, to 31 May 2020)’, of them – 12 men and 8 women – “were caught using experienced monkey catchers,” the study reported. The investigation was conducted in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Oversight of Animal Experiments, Government of India.
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