Cats and dogs may need COVID vaccine to curb spread: scientists

Cats and dogs may also need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to help curb the spread of the infectious disease – amid a threat from “the continued evolution of the virus in animals,” warned the scientists.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia and the Earlham Institute, both in the UK, and the University of Minnesota have warned of the “significant long-term risk to public health” of such a transmission in an editorial in Virulence.

“It is not unthinkable that vaccination of certain domesticated animal species is … necessary to curb the spread of infection,” the experts wrote in the peer-reviewed medical journal, the UK’s Independent reported.

While there are no known cases in which a human has contracted COVID-19 from a furry family member, Cock van Oosterhout, professor of evolutionary genetics at the UEA in Norwich, said we should be prepared “for any eventuality”.

“It makes sense to develop vaccines for pets, for domestic animals, just as a precaution to reduce that risk,” he said. “What we need to be as a human society, we really need to prepare for any eventuality when it comes to COVID.”

Last year, Denmark was forced to slaughter millions of mink after hundreds of coronavirus cases in the country were linked to farmed creatures.

If this happened with cats and dogs, it would pose “a significant long-term risk to public health,” the editorial warned.

“The continued evolution of the virus in animal reservoir hosts, followed by spillover events in susceptible human hosts, poses a significant long-term risk to public health,” the group of scientists wrote.

“SARS-CoV-2 can infect a wide range of host species, including cats, dogs, mink, and other wild and domesticated species, and therefore, vaccination of domestic animals may be required to stop virus evolution and fallout events.

The scientists added, “As SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19 vaccination campaigns are rolled out around the world, new virus variants are likely to continue to evolve and have the potential to wipe out the disease. human population. “

Meanwhile, the group is also calling on governments to continue to enforce strict controls, such as mask warrants and social distancing orders, to reduce the evolution and spread of any new variant of COVID.