BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the Ministry of Finance have approved to build a national animal model resource bank for human diseases, according to a report of Science and Technology Daily Tuesday.

The resource bank, under the National Health Commission, will be supported by the Institute of Laboratory Animals Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

The animal model resource bank of human diseases can further promote the utilization and sharing of animal model resources and has been included in the national science and technology resource sharing service platform.

The animal models of human diseases, mainly used for drug screening and vaccine research, are animals with similar manifestations of human diseases.

Qin Chuan, director of the resource bank, said at a press conference last month that Chinese researchers have established models of mice and rhesus monkeys in COVID-19 vaccine research and development.

A vaccine can enter clinical trials only after it is proved to be safe and effective in animal tests, said Wang Junzhi, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

China has approved three COVID-19 vaccine candidates for clinical trials, MOST announced at a press conference on Tuesday.