Organisers of the upcoming Badminton World Championships in New Delhi are employing an unusual method to prevent monkey intrusions: hiring professional mimics to imitate langur calls.
The Rhesus macaque monkeys, used worldwide in medical research, are believed to be the best non-human primates for such studies.
The researchers found that after being exposed to high levels of the novel coronavirus, none of the six monkeys that were given the vaccine developed viral pneumonia. Also, there was no sign that the vaccine had made the animals more vulnerable.
Centre has not given any permission to states for culling of wild animals, Environment and Forests Minister Anil Madhav Dave on Monday said as concerns were expressed in Rajya Sabha over reports that nilgais had been killed in Bihar.
Responding to another question, Choubey said that the phase-I of clinical trials have revealed excellent safety of the two candidate vaccines indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research and Cadila Healthcare Ltd, and now their immunogenicity testing is in progress. Their phase II clinical trials are ongoing.
Adjuvants may be added to a vaccine to produce more antibodies and longer lasting immunity thus minimising the dose of antigen needed.
A plea has been filed in Supreme Court seeking quashing and interim stay of three notifications of the Centre declaring Nilgai, monkey and wild boar as vermins for one year in the states of Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The approval by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) was given on the basis of recommendations submitted by a COVID-19 subject expert committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
An animal rights activist on June 15 asked the court to quash the three notifications that declared nilgai (blue bulls), monkeys and wild boars as vermin in the states of Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, respectively.
'People are already sending congratulatory messages. But I have said, "Please don't until the trials are over".'
'Never ever have so many states across the country declared animals as vermin as they have in 6 to 8 months.'
