Russia has registered the world's first vaccine against COVID-19 for animals, the country's agriculture safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said on March 31.
Russia already has three coronavirus vaccines for humans, the most well-known of which is Sputnik V. Moscow has also given emergency approval to two others, EpiVacCorona and CoviVac.
Citing Rosselkhoznadzor, Russian media reports say the vaccine for animals, developed by a unit of Rosselkhoznadzor, was named Carnivac-Cov.
“The clinical trials of Carnivac-Cov, which started last October, involved dogs, cats, Arctic foxes, minks, foxes and other animals,” said Rosselkhoznadzor deputy head Konstantin Savenkov, according to TASS.
"The results of the trials allow us to conclude that the vaccine is harmless and highly immunogenic as all the vaccinated animals developed antibodies to the coronavirus in 100% of cases," he noted
Immunity lasts for six months after vaccination, but the shot's developers are continuing to analyze this, the watchdog said.
Mass production of the vaccine could start as early as April, Rosselkhoznadzor added.
According to Russian researchers, the use of the vaccine can prevent the development of virus mutations.
Russia’s agriculture safety watchdog noted that animal-breeding facilities and private companies from Greece, Poland, Austria, the United States, Canada and Singapore had expressed interest in Carnivac-Cov.
Founded on June 30, 2004 as part of Russia's Ministry of Agriculture, the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznadzor) is a federal body that exercises oversight over veterinary medicine and agricultural production and byproducts in the Russian Federation.
