Vaccine Development and Ethical Sidetracking: Nonhuman Primates in Covid-19 Biomedical Research

Abstract

The current ethical paradigm avails the use of nonhuman animal for experiments in biomedical research. It is acknowledged as a practice with a considerable moral burden, and thus certain regulations have been established. The singularity of nonhuman primates (NHP) in terms of their cognitive and emotional complexity grants them a virtual status of personhood, and is reflected in a stricter legislation that allows nonetheless their use in certain cases. The pandemic brought by SARS-CoV-2 has rushed the classical drug development design, and NHP have been one of the species used to test novel therapies. In this study, a search of the characteristics of NHP and experimental techniques performed for COVID-19 vaccine development purposes will be used to ponder the costs and benefits of these practices. Under a critical eye, the results of these studies will be analyzed beyond the numbers, considering the harms for both human and NHP as well as the extension of the benefits.