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Several species have received a double dose of the animal-specific vaccine
Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 26 Oct 2021
Cincinnati Zoo has vaccinated several of its great apes against COVID-19 Credit: Amy Reed via Unsplash
80 animals at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio, US, have received a double dose of a COVID-19 vaccination created specifically for animals.
Several species including big cats, great apes, giraffes, red pandas, skunks, river otters, goats, bearcats and even domestic cats and dogs have received the vaccines, which were developed by Zoetis, a pharmaceutical company specialising in animal medications. It was approved for use by the US Department of Agriculture.
Zookeepers worked with the animals for several weeks to ensure they were as comfortable as possible when receiving the inoculations. These efforts seemed to have been successful as the majority of vaccines were administered without the need for anaesthetic.
The zoo’s director of animal health Dr Mark Campbell credits the success to the strong relationships the zookeepers and health care team has built up with the animals.
“We usually have a year for the animals that receive flu shots and other routine annual vaccinations to forget about the sting, but the second COVID shots had to be given within three weeks of the first,” he said.
“We were concerned that the fresh memory of the first injection would make animals less willing to offer a shoulder or thigh for the second round but they did. That success is 100% due to the strong relationships these animals have with care staff and our animal health team.”
So far no adverse reactions have been observed in the animals.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, COVID has been prevalent among certain animals, with species such as lions and tigers contracting the virus in several zoos including Barcelona Zoo in Spain and The Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, US, while Zoo Atlanta in Georgia, US, reported a gorilla outbreak, with several of its western lowland gorillas testing positive for COVID-19 in September.
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