There’s a shortage of monkeys available for medical research and the U.S. should expand its breeding programs rather than rely on international suppliers to solve it, an influential scientific advisory panel said Thursday.
Studies using nonhuman primates, especially monkeys, have been critical to lifesaving medical advances – including creating vaccines against COVID-19 – because of their similarities to people. The U.S. funds colonies at national primate centers but supplies were tight and more animals were regularly imported even before the pandemic.
