Turkey will begin animal testing in its effort to develop an anti-serum to tackle the novel coronavirus pandemic. "The animals will undergo illness, if lightly. Their
antibody count will go up and we will get these antibodies by separating them from the blood and other elements," In the study, which will last until September, Turkish scientists will inject test subjects with isolated and inactive
virus samples in efforts that will serve as a precedent for vaccine research. "Imagine the
virus is a soldier ready to go to war, we don't kill the virus, but get its rifle, the
virus is now available for use in the laboratory," said Pakdemirli, stressing that the fight against the pandemic required multi-disciplinary research. The high
biosafety precautions would be taken during the study as it involved high
health risks. Tests will first be conducted on horses and rabbits, Pakdemirli said, underlining that these tests would not damage their
health as the
viruses would be inactive. When this study is successful, the vaccine prototype will be produced, adding that 80 research facilities around the world were working to produce a vaccine against COVID-19. After appearing in Wuhan, China late last year, the
virus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.
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