NEW ORLEANS — Tulane's Primate Research Facility is doing some important research on coronavirus in hopes of eventually developing a vaccine.
Thursday afternoon, WWLTV's Katie Moore spoke with the doctor who is in charge of that research, Dr. Skip Bohm, to get an update on how their important work is going.
"I think people's fears have turned more from 'I'm fearful the primate center has the virus' to 'I'm more fearful of the disease than the primate center releasing the virus,'" Bohm said. "What we have heard is 'We need you to work and work as fast as you can and make sure you get a good product out there as quickly as we can so we can protect people.'"
Dr. Bohm said they infected the first set of primates last week to see if the virus behaves as it does in humans, so they can then start developing a vaccine for humans.
During the interview, Dr. Bohm said the data was promising.
"It's a little early for me to divulge some of what we're seeing," Bohm said. "We were looking today at some of the clinical data, and it does look promising."
The doctor said between 15 and 20 companies have expressed interest in using the research facility's model, and hopefully, that will expedite the testing of vaccines.
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