Vaccines can protect against COVID-19 in animal models, study says
This is part of our Coronavirus Update series in which Harvard specialists in epidemiology, infectious disease, economics, politics, and other disciplines offer insights into what the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak may bring. With nearly 5 million confirmed cases globally and more than 300,000 deaths from COVID-19, much remains unknown about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease. Two critical questions are whether vaccines will prevent infection with COVID-19, and whether individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 are protected against re-exposure to the virus. Now, a pair of new studies led by researchers at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) suggests the answer to these questions is yes, at least in animal models. Results of these studies were published today in the journal Science. “The global COVID-19 pandemic has made the development of a vaccine a top biomedical priority, but very little is currently known about protective immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus,”...