Fig. 4: Efficacy of MVA-S vaccination in Syrian hamsters.
Vaccinated and boosted adult Syrian hamsters (n = 4 per group) were challenged with 105 TCID50 SARS-CoV-2 WA1/2020 in two experiments. In the first experiment, nasal washes were collected on days 1–4 post challenge (DPC) and titrated for total RNA (a), subgenomic RNA (b), and infectious virus titers by TCID50 assay (c). At 4 DPC, total viral RNA from lungs and nasal turbinates was quantified compared to γ-actin controls (d) and pathology in infected lungs compared by scoring (e). In a separate experiment, hamsters were vaccinated, boosted, and weighed daily for 18 days post challenge (f) with daily checks for morbidity (g) and mortality (h). Clinical scores (g) were assigned based on the following metric: 0—Normal; 1—Ruffled Fur; 1—Labored Breathing; 1—Lethargy; 1—Conjunctivitis. On day 8, two animals from the PBS control group met humane early endpoints, were euthanized, and removed from the study (
). *P < 0.1, **p < 0.01, and n.s. not significant. Standard deviations are shown by error bars.
