Over 11,000 doses in approximately seventy zoos, a dozen sanctuaries, universities and other animal institutions in twenty-seven American states. In the United States, the use of Covid vaccines is extending to an increasing number of animals in captivity. The manufacturing company is Zoetis, a former Pfizer subsidiary that creates medicines for pets and breeding.

A single vaccine for over 100 mammal species

In 2020, after the virus appeared, Zoetis began working to produce Covid vaccines for dogs and cats , imagining that any demand for the drug could essentially concern pets.

It was later, when minks started contracting COVID-19 on fur farms, that the company changed its focus, moving in the direction of a vaccine that could be adapted to as many different species as possible. . 

Meanwhile, human-contracted cases of coronavirus have also been diagnosed among gorillas, leopards and lions in captivity. Thus, the new vaccine– which has already received the green light for emergency use from the United States Department of Agriculture despite being still in development and testing – will be administered to over 100 mammal species .

” We can’t create a new vaccine for every species ,” said Mahesh Kumar, vice president of biological research and development at Zoetis. The same company said it cannot yet state for sure how each species will react to the drug.

Covid vaccine in US zoos

The experimental Covid vaccine for animals, not usable on humans, had already been announced by National Geographic and used in March 2021 to protect the great apes (bonobos, gorillas, orangutans) of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park . An outbreak of infection had broken out here and an elderly gorilla had contracted a particularly severe form of the coronavirus.

At the beginning of July, then, the Oakland Zoo, in the San Francisco Bay in California , began to inoculate the drug to big cats, bears and ferrets to continue, closely, with primates and pigs.

Currently, the start of vaccine administration in Wisconsin zoos is imminentanimals such as great apes, tigers, lions, skunks and badgers, while the Philadelphia Zoo in Pennsylvania has announced that it will vaccinate its gorillas, otters and lemurs, among others.

The vaccination campaign will also be joined by the Milwaukee County Zoo and the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, as well as the Cincinnati, Columbus and Akron Zoos in Ohio .

Vaccinations, a practice in many zoos and farms

Vaccination of animals appears to be a practice in many zoos and farms, where it is not uncommon to administer drugs or antibiotics for preventive purposes .