Russia has become the first world’s country to register the world’s first coronavirus vaccine for animals Carnivak-Cov.
On Wednesday, Russia announced that it had registered what it said was the world’s first coronavirus vaccine for animals, describing the step as important to disrupting mutations. It said mass production of the vaccine could begin in April.
According to the agriculture oversight agency Rosselkhoznadzor, said in a statement that the vaccine is called Carnivak-Cov, had been tested beginning October on dogs, cats, mink, foxes and other animals and was proven to be effective.
“All test animals that were vaccinated developed antibodies to coronavirus in 100 percent of cases,” said Konstantin Savenkov, deputy head of Rosselkhoznadzor.
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“It is the world’s first and only product for preventing Covid-19 in animals,” he said.
Rosselkhoznadzor said the development of its shot would help prevent mutations in animals and cited Denmark’s decision to cull 15 million mink last year after some were found to be carrying a mutated virus variant. “The use of the vaccine, according to Russian scientists, can prevent the development of virus mutations,”
The agency further said that the animal breeding facilities and private companies from countries like Greece, Poland, Austria, the United States, Canada and Singapore had expressed interest in Carnivak-Cov.
“The results of the trials allow us to conclude that the vaccine is harmless and highly immunogenic as all the vaccinated animals developed antibodies to the coronavirus in 100% of cases.” said deputy head Konstantin Savenkov.
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Earlier this week, military officials in Russia’s second city Saint Petersburg announced that army dogs would undergo mandatory vaccination before being deployed at airports and participating in nationwide World War II commemorations in May.
Moreover, Russia already has three Covid-19 vaccines for humans, the most well-known of which is Sputnik V. Moscow has also given emergency approval to two others, EpiVacCorona and CoviVac.
Meanwhile, Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 8,711 to 4,528,543 on 29 March, the anti-coronavirus crisis centre had said.
