No urgent need for a Covid-19 vaccine for pets

HOPING to have yourself and your pet vaccinated against Covid-19 soon? While we can all be justified from wanting to get vaccinated against the dreadful disease that brought the whole world down to its knees, pet owners don't need to have their dogs or cats vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, at least not right away. 

William Karesh, executive vice president for health and policy at EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit that tracks emerging diseases in animals, said that "cats and dogs don’t play an important role in the maintenance or transmission of the disease to humans" and therefore don't warrant a vaccine from a public health standpoint.

Russia, however, was reported by Reuters to be nearing completion of its clinical trials on a COVID-19 vaccine for mink and pet animals such as dogs and cats. Russia's Federal Center for Animal Health said to have started work on the vaccine after it was determined that animals could be infected by Covid-19. The vaccine, which is expected to finish undergoing clinical trials in January 2021, is aimed at rabbits, cats, mink and other animals.

In the United States, Zoetis, a veterinary pharmaceutical company, is also working on a vaccine for mink and pets. The company said their clinical trials showed cats and dogs exhibiting strong immune response to the antigen designed to protect them against infection. All pet vaccines in the US, however, must first have the approval and licenses from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) before they could be sold commercially. USDA has not approved any Covid-19 drug for pets yet. 

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