Russia registers a vaccine against covid-19 for animals

Russia has registered a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 for animals.

Immunization against covid-19, developed by the Federal Center for Animal Health, has already undergone clinical trials in ferrets, dogs, cats, mink, foxes and other carnivorous animals, according to the Federal Veterinary Supervision Service of Russia (Rosselkhoznadzor ).

The preparation, for which no data or study has yet been published, is called Carnivac-cov, is based on inactivated virus and consists of two doses.

It will start large-scale production in April and will cost about 580 rubles (about 6.5 euros), according to Rosselkhoznadzor.

Carnivac-cov, which Russia has announced as the pioneer in registering, following the line of Sputnik V, its star vaccine, which tries to export to half the world despite production difficulties and its low acceptance at home, is not, however the first immunization against covid-19 for animals.

In February, four orangutans and five bonobos at the San Diego Zoo (USA) received two doses of a vaccine produced by the Zoetis veterinary laboratory.

A vaccine for animals was not an "urgent need" but it was another step, "early work" in the fight against the coronavirus

Animal clinical studies for Russia's Carnivac-cov began in October, according to Rosselkhoznadzor.

First they were carried out with ferrets, then with minks, cats and other animals, explained the deputy director of the state veterinary service Konstantin Savenkov.

A vaccine for animals, Savenkov said, was not an "urgent need" but another step, "early work" in the fight against the coronavirus, he stressed.

“We did this job for the future.

We must be prepared to prevent a situation rather than deal with it later if it takes a negative turn, ”said Savenkov.

There is no evidence of transmission from pets to humans, but the flux of coronavirus between species - such as minks - and that it causes more dangerous mutations has worried experts.

Also for its impact on pets, livestock, and wildlife.

Mink farms around the world, for example, have experienced outbreaks of the virus that has resulted in the slaughter of millions of mink animals.

As in the case of Denmark, where 17 million were sacrificed.

The fur industry in Russia has fallen a lot in recent years, it now occupies 5% of the world industry, but even so, there are almost 100,000 minks, almost 60,000 martens and 7,000 ferrets on its farms, according to data from the supervisory authority.

And, according to the authorities, Rosselkhoznadzor has regularly received requests for a vaccine since last year.

Russian scientists believe that the use of the vaccine can prevent the virus from mutating, which occurs more frequently during inter-species transmission, they explain from Rosselkhoznadzor, who has registered two cases of two cats infected with SARS-CoV-2 (the animals can also become infected with some other species of the coronavirus family that are different from covid-19).

The Russian Federal Veterinary Service assures that, according to the results of its studies, the vaccine is "harmless" and has "high immunogenicity".

"All the animals evaluated developed antibodies against the coronavirus, in 100% of the cases," Savenkov said in a video statement.

How long immunity lasts is still being studied, but for now it lasts for six months, he said.

Immunity in vaccinated animals is formed 14 days after double application with an interval of 21 days, they say.

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