COVID vaccination for animals

[dturm]

San Diego Zoo vaccinate great apes.

We have discussed many animal species that also can contract SarsCov2 including primates, cats, mink, ferrets and to a lesser degree dogs.

Zoetis (a major animal health company that used to be a division of Pfizer before being spun off) has developed this vaccine and now are testing the vaccine.

This is important in an effort to prevent further development of variants and reservoirs of the virus that could complicate elimination of the pandemic and future epidemics.

[dturm]

Zoetis is adapting a veterinary SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for use in mink, thousands of which were culled at fur farms when scientists discovered that the coronavirus spread easily from people to the animals and then between mink, mutating along the way. The veterinary vaccine, which is not suitable for use in humans, was administered to great apes at San Diego Zoo in January, and vaccinating susceptible animals could prevent spillback of variants to people, says Zoetis Senior Vice President of Global Biologics R&D Mahesh Kumar.

[LJAZ]

Came across this article:

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/16/975405670/zoo-vaccinates-apes-to-protect-both-animals-and-humans-from-covid-19

I read in another article that speculation is that an asymptomatic zookeeper was the source of infection.

[BCSnob]

The UK variant can infect dogs and cats from their owners 3-6 weeks after their owners got infected.

Interestingly, all these B.1.1.7 infected pets developed atypical clinical manifestations, including severe cardiac abnormalities secondary to myocarditis and a profound impairment of the general health status of the patient but without any primary respiratory signs.

Myocarditis in naturally infected pets with the British variant of COVID-19
BioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.18.435945

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

BCSnob wrote:
I don’t know about Dr Doug but I prefer to get my Covid-19 information from the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical society, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Nature, etc, and by reading preprint of studies on BioRxiv/MedRxiv as opposed to CNN or Fox News. While I don’t have the training in public health, virology and immunology that Dr Doug has (I have a PhD in Chemistry with >25 years as a research scientist) I do get to read about how diagnostic tests I have helped developed are being used in COVID-19 research and the clinical trials of several vaccines (for example the Moderna vaccine).

I think the vast majority of us here really appreciate your, and Dr Doug's, data-based information 🙂 Granted, there are some folks who are unable to interpret the studies as presented in a clinical manner - and then there's some who are simply not going to listen because it doesn't fit their narrative.

I'm grateful for the Covid vaccine, and glad they continue to research coronaviruses in animals. There's always a chance that something else dire, will decide to switch species....

[BCSnob]

I don’t know about Dr Doug but I prefer to get my Covid-19 information from the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical society, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Nature, etc, and by reading preprint of studies on BioRxiv/MedRxiv as opposed to CNN or Fox News. While I don’t have the training in public health, virology and immunology that Dr Doug has (I have a PhD in Chemistry with >25 years as a research scientist) I do get to read about how diagnostic tests I have helped developed are being used in COVID-19 research and the clinical trials of several vaccines (for example the Moderna and J&J vaccines).

[dturm]

I deleted a post by a new (here on the pet stop) member. That post suggested I watch less CNN and TV. It was also stated that we don’t need fake news here.

Some of you may not be aware of my background, but I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine. I have over 40 years experience in small animal veterinary practice where I have probably administered close to a million vaccinations against multiple diseases in multiple species (multivalent vaccines we often used were 5 in 1). I have more than a passing knowledge and training in public health, virology and immunology.

While I don’t often watch CNN, I do try to absorb information from multiple sources and evaluate their veracity based on my knowledge and experience. That includes internet, print and TV.

I don’t claim to know or understand everything about this disease, but perhaps my training and experience allows me to impart some explanations and understanding of a difficult evolving situation.

It’s sad that information that does not conform with a preconceived position cannot be evaluated by some individuals and is just labeled fake.

Dr. Doug

[dturm]

mr_andyj wrote:
The height of human stupidity!
Lots of hoaxes surrounding all this.
CDC states that the vax will not protect you from the virus, and you still need to mask up, wash hands, distance... So, what is the vax for? If people are dropping dead after getting it and it does not protect you from squat, then need I ask the next obvious question?

Lots of misinformation and false assumptions here.

You state that "people are dropping dead after getting it" are you referring to the vaccination? This is a false narrative. Deaths occurring around the time of vaccination are expected with millions of doses being given. The data often quoted with this narrative is supplied by the VAERS and does NOT specify cause of death. An individual killed in a car accident after having been vaccinated is included in this data set.

A majority of these reported deaths have occurred in people >80 years old. Again, cause of death is NOT included in this data set and assumptions that the vaccine caused all these death are incorrect.

Read Mark's response, it gives a real good explanation why you should get a vaccination AND still take SOME precautions.

The vaccination not only protects you from serious disease, it can serve to protect people you associate with and society in general. If this virus continues to spread, it WILL mutate and we could get variants that cause more issues.

[BCSnob]

People who have any of the other respiratory viruses (common cold, flu, SARS-CoV-1, MERS, etc) are only infectious to others when they feel sick (symptomatic). SARS-CoV-2 is unique in that people who have this virus are infectious to others before they feel sick (pre-symptomatic) and even if they never feel sick (asymptomatic). I've seen published studies which have estimated up to 40% of all SARS-CoV-2 infections are asymptomatic.

Clinical trials for vaccines follow 10,000s of vaccinated (with vaccine or placebo) people for 2 years. During this time the effectiveness of the vaccine is evaluated by determining how many vaccinated people became infected vs how many who received the placebo became infected. With the other respiratory viruses it is easy to know if someone is infected because they feel sick (symptomatic). With SARS-CoV-2 how do you determine everyone who becomes infected if some infections never cause symptoms? How do you determine the effectiveness of a vaccine to prevent all SARS-CoV-2 infections (asymptomatic and symptomatic)? The SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are only evaluated at preventing symptomatic infections (the ones that can be identified), hospitalizations, and deaths. The vaccines are very effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

A vaccinated person could become infected (asymptomatic) and then infect another vaccinated person leading to a mild (symptomatic) or asymptomatic infection A vaccinated person is unlikely to become sick enough to require hospitalization or die). A vaccinated person could infect a non-vaccinated person leading to asymptotic infection, mild symptomatic infection, hospitalization, or death. This is why vaccinated people should still wear masks.

[mr_andyj]

The height of human stupidity!
Lots of hoaxes surrounding all this.
CDC states that the vax will not protect you from the virus, and you still need to mask up, wash hands, distance... So, what is the vax for? If people are dropping dead after getting it and it does not protect you from squat, then need I ask the next obvious question?

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

I copy/pasted this from Dr Doug's article:

"And while mass vaccination activities against COVID-19 are currently underway on a global level, we are still not yet sure how this pandemic (and its causative virus) will end. In other words, highly touted concepts of herd immunity and viral eradication are increasingly seen as unrealistic when prevalence, genetic diversity and pervasive animal reservoirs are taken into account."

Given how many Americans in particular, refuse to get vaccinated - is "herd immunity" even going to happen? Although this article certainly put a new twist on that thought....

Also - I find it strange that two weasels gets Covid (mink/ferret), while another (skunks) doesn't....

[BCSnob]

Good news.....

Experimental susceptibility of North American raccoons (Procyon lotor) and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) to SARS-CoV-2
BioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.06.434226

Skunks and raccoons were intranasally inoculated or indirectly exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Both species are susceptible to infection; however, the lack of, and low quantity of infectious virus shed by raccoons and skunks, respectively, and lack of cage mate transmission in both species, suggest that neither species are competent SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs.

[dturm]

The story below describes a new situation where a mutant of Sars-CoV-2 found in minks (in Poland) spread to a person. This is why surveillance and potential vaccinations for animals is important for the safety of humans. Not doing so is short sighted and dangerous for us.

Story

Dr. Doug

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

dturm wrote:

There has been an initiative for the last decade (at least) called ONE HEALTH. It recognizes that the health of all species are inter-related as witnessed by the emergence of multiple new diseases that originated in animals and spread to humans. The initiative coordinates information and research to combat just these types of problems.

Dr. Doug

This is wonderful! Yes, scarily, we are all interconnected even more so today, than decades ago. In spite of the conspiracists, I truly believe Covid originated from a fresh meat market because species-to-species viruses happens often enough - and look how fast it spread around the world?!

[riah]

😉 :B

Exactly!

(Re: Maybe the plan is to save the intelligent species first?)