Defense Ministry-run Institute for Biological Research says it has been able to protect hamsters from COVID-19, hopes to have finished product for humans within a year.
Illustrative: A researcher with a vial in a lab, March 12, 2020, in Meriden, Connecticut, amidst researching a vaccine for COVID-19. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
In a possible breakthrough, an Israeli Defense Ministry-run laboratory claimed it had completed successful coronavirus vaccine trials on rodents, paving the way to further testing on other animals and then possibly human trials.
In a paper published Friday on the website of bioRxiv, an online repository for papers that haven’t yet been peer-reviewed, the Israel Institute for Biological Research, which is based in Ness Ziona, said it hopes to have a finished vaccine in a year, or possibly even earlier.
In the abstract of the report, the researchers say their vaccine, which they tested on hamsters, “results in rapid and potent induction of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2,” the virus that causes COVID-19. Read more >>
