Texas Biomed helps Pfizer successfully test COVID-19 vaccine by using monkeys
SAN ANTONIO - Scientists at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute are excited Monday for the role they played in helping Pfizer develop a COVID-19 vaccine that could be available to the public in a matter of weeks.
Preclinical trials involving monkeys at the San Antonio center were a huge success, according to Dr. Deepak Kaushal, who oversaw the study.
"This does mean that this virus can be vaccinated against and effectively so," he says. "This is quite a big deal.
The results Texas Biomed obtained were astounding.
"We actually saw 100 percent protection rate," Dr. Kaushal says.
Monkeys given the Pfizer vaccine were protected from the virus - all of them.
"We showed that the monkeys that received the B2 vaccine made proper immune responses," he says, "and were protected. In fact, the virus vanished from the lower lung in the animals that were vaccinated."
When this vaccine - or even another one - is ready for the general public, there should be no hesitation to take it, Dr. Kaushal says.
"I think everybody should consider taking this vaccine when it becomes available next year and we could get out of this funk," he says.
Pfizer is touting a 90 percent success rate of the vaccine in humans.
Dr. Kaushal says he's positive this is the breakthrough the country has been waiting to hear. He hopes it leads to the complete reopening of society.
"This reassures me that our life can go back to being normal in a year or so," he says.
It was a team effort by everyone at Texas Biomed, Dr. Kaushal says.
"We at Texas Biomed are extremely proud to have participated in this, along with a host of other scientists," he says, noting the importance of close to $5 million that was raised this past spring to help launch the process.
He says the preclinical paper from Texas Biomed has 62 authors on it.
"That's virtually unheard of. That tells you we had to do the study very quickly," he says.