Australia May Soon Inoculate Pets Against Coronavirus

Australia is pursuing regulatory bodies to inoculate the pets against the COVID-19 vaccine. Australia has about 5.1 million dogs and 3.8 million cats as pets.

Australia is pursuing regulatory bodies to inoculate the pets against the COVID-19 vaccine, reported the media.

Dr. Sam Kovac, from Southern Cross Vets in Sydney, has yet not been granted approval from the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority.

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‘The World Health Organization has also that the risk of animals reinfecting humans with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus behind COVID-19, remained low.’

However, Kovac said that he had had a ’positive’ conversation with a senior figure in authority about the issue of having to pay an Australian dollar $105,000 application fee to get the medicine registered, Daily Mail reported.

"They put me in touch with getting an alternative permit. So it’s looking like fast-tracking is probably the wrong word, but there is an alternative method that we’re looking at to get this approved now," he told Daily Mail Australia.

"It’s pretty exciting. It’s looking like it’s going to happen," he added.

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Australia has about 5.1 million dogs and 3.8 million cats as pets.

"You don’t need to import a million vaccines to start with. If there is interest from a couple of thousand pet owners, then we could start with that," Kovac said.

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"In Russia, most of the work is the vets doing their consult and administering it."

"It’s a very simple vaccine and they could manufacture 24 hours a day if there is the demand for it here. But the first step is to get it approved," he noted.

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Despite many people thinking otherwise, Kovac said pets definitely can get COVID-19, but there is no evidence they can pass it on to humans.

"But there’s plenty of evidence from overseas that dogs, cats, ferrets, mink can contract COVID-19, the same virus that affects us, and in some cases it can be lethal and cause all the same problems that we get," he said.

The Russian pet vaccine has been approved in Japan, Brazil, and other South American countries, the report said.

Elsewhere, hamsters from a pet store in Hong Kong have tested positive for COVID-19.

To curb an outbreak, Hong Kong’s government has planned to cull thousands of small animals, including hamsters, chinchillas, rabbits, and guinea pigs.

"We understand there are several species that can be infected with SARS-CoV-2," the WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, Maria Van Kerkhove, told a virtual media briefing on Tuesday.

"There’s the possibility (of) a reverse zoonosis (that) goes from humans back to animals, and then it’s possible for the animals to reinfect humans. That risk remains low," she said.

Source-IANS