It is the turn of the animals to be vaccinated in Finland. Farmers plan to inject a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine into all mink in the country. Bred for their fur, they present particular risks of contamination by the coronavirus. This is not the same vaccine as for humans, but an experimental vaccine with temporary use.
Conditional use of this vaccine may be authorized during a pandemic period when no other vaccine is available, and “is granted until the end of December, when the applicant will have to provide new data,” said Lisa Kaartinen, principal inspector of this authority, which controls veterinary activities. As clinical trials have not yet been completed, the vaccine cannot be distributed commercially and must be used under strict procedures in the 1,000 Finnish mink farms to control and prevent the spread of the virus.
Two doses per mink
“We have prepared about half a million doses, which should be enough to vaccinate all animals twice,” said Jussi Peura, research director at the Finnish Mink Breeders Association, which developed the vaccine. in cooperation with researchers from the University of Helsinki.
The green light for the vaccine only applies to Finland where so far no cases of the novel coronavirus have been identified among mink, and where transmission rates within the population have remained among the highest. weaknesses of the European Union during the pandemic.
Mink already vaccinated in Russia
The breeders’ association believes its vaccine is the first to receive approval in the EU. Neighboring Russia boasted in March of having developed the first vaccine for animals against Covid-19, which it then began administering.
Mink is the only animal so far to be considered able to transmit Covid-19 to humans. Denmark, which was the largest exporter of mink furs, saw this trade decimated after a strain of the virus that mutated began to hit mink farms last November, forcing the government to order the culling of some 15 million of them across the country.