Russia Starts Production Of COVID-19 Vaccines For Animals, Interested Germany To Iran

Vaccine illustration. (Sam Moqadam / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Russian agricultural regulator announced that it would start producing the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine for animals, Friday 30 April. The number of vaccines produced for this stage is 17 thousand doses.

Named Carnivac-Cov, the vaccine was officially registered in March, after passing tests and showing antibodies to COVID-19 in dogs, cats, foxes and minks.

"The first batch will be supplied to several Russian regions," regulator Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement.

He further explained that a number of companies from foreign countries such as Germany, Greece, Poland, Austria, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Lebanon, Iran and Argentina have expressed interest in purchasing the vaccine.

"About 20 organizations are ready to negotiate the registration and supply of vaccines to their countries. Files for overseas registration, particularly in the European Union, are in preparation and will soon be used for the registration process," said Rosselkhoznadzor.

Previously, the World Health Organization (WHO) had raised concerns over the risk of transmission of the virus between humans and animals. Russian regulators said the vaccine would be able to protect susceptible species and thwart virus mutations.

To note, this vaccine for animals was developed by scientists from the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor).

"The Carnivac-Cov clinical trial, which began last October, involved dogs, cats, arctic foxes, minks, foxes and other animals," said Deputy Chief Rosselkhoznadzor Konstantin Savenkov some time ago.

"The trial results allow us to conclude that the vaccine is harmless and highly immunogenic, because all vaccinated animals develop antibodies to the coronavirus in 100 percent of cases." he added.