31 May 2021
Setting it Straight: The scientific defence that brings us to Phase III, the penultimate trial
The power of modern molecular science is such that, adapting technology developed for other pathogens, making the candidate mRNA (Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna) and adenovirus-vectored (AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson and Sputnik) vaccines (#49, #50) to counter SARS-CoV-2 infection was reasonably straightforward. And, once naturally occurring (in people) SARS-CoV-2 variants that also infect laboratory mice emerged – the initial strains only infected hamsters, mustelids (ferrets and mink) and monkeys – vaccine protection studies in animals became much more feasible.