Russia begins vaccinating animals against coronavirus
Meanwhile, another vaccine is being developed by the US veterinary pharmaceutical company Zoetis.
PRETORIA, May 26 (ANA) – Several Russian regions have started vaccinating animals against Covid-19 at veterinary clinics, the RIA news agency cited Russia’s agricultural safety watchdog as saying on Wednesday.
In March, Russia registered the world’s first vaccine against Covid-19 for animals after tests showed it generated antibodies against the coronavirus in dogs, cats foxes and mink, Al Jazeera cited the country’s agriculture safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor as saying.
The vaccine, developed by Rosselkhoznadzor, was named Carnivac-Cov, the broadcaster added.
The BBC cited the agency saying interest has been shown in the Carnivak-Cov vaccine by the EU, Argentina South Korea and Japan.
The British broadcaster cited scientists saying there is currently no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the disease to humans, infections have been confirmed in various species worldwide.
These include dogs, cats, apes and mink.
Julia Melano, adviser to the head of Rosselkhoznadzor, said clinics were seeing an increase in vaccination requests from “breeders, pet-owners who travel frequently and also citizens whose animals roam freely”, according to the RIA news agency.
Meanwhile, another vaccine is being developed by the US veterinary pharmaceutical company Zoetis, BBC added.
In November 2020, Denmark went so far as to cull 17 million minks in response to outbreaks at more than 200 mink farms, NBC News reported.
No mink was spared, the government killed all the infected and healthy animals.
“We would rather go a step too far than take a step too little to combat Covid-19,” the country’s foreign minister Jeppe Kofod was quoted saying at a press conference in early November.
The country’s prime minister later apologised and its food and agriculture minister stepped down when the order to kill the animals was declared illegal, the US broadcaster wrote.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay
