(04-24-2020, 11:25 AM)robkelk Wrote: Please don't put words in my mouth. I never said anything of the sort. And please put the goalposts back where they were.
I said "animal testing", not "cost-effective animal testing". Considering how many billions of dollars are being thrown around during the pandemic response, financial concerns are - or at least should be - nonexistent.
My apologies. And I agree, financial concerns should be but the most minor concern in the pandemic response, even if only on the side of the governments who so dearly should desire an effective and safe vaccine as swiftly as possible.
However, my point, that currently researchers don't know which species would make a good test subject that can be used to represent humanity's response to COVID-19 specific medication or vaccines is still true. This is something that could and without doubt is being investigated, but right now testing with any species that is not human will not provide useful data because we don't know how to interpret the data such tests would deliver and translate it to humanity. That is something that, sadly, can only come from extensive and time consuming testing.