India’s first Covid-19 Vaccine for Animals

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The Agriculture Ministry unveiled India’s first Covid-19 vaccine for animals.

• Developed by the Hisar-based National Research Centre on Equines, the vaccine, called Ancovax, can protect animals against the Delta and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2.
• This is the first Covid-19 vaccine for animals developed in India.
• There were reports from Russia last year that that country, too, had developed a vaccine against animals such as dogs, cats, minks, and foxes.

HOW IT WORKS

• Ancovax can be used in dogs, lions, leopards, mice, and rabbits.
• It is an inactivated vaccine developed using an infectious part of the Delta variant.
• In addition, it uses Alhydrogel as an adjuvant to boost the immune response.

THE NEED:

• There have been reports of Covid-19 infection in several animals, including dogs and cats.
• The vaccine can protect animals in the zoo.
• The animals develop similar symptoms to humans – cough, cold, fever, and lung lesions
• It can also prevent transmission from companion animals to the humans
• The aim of the vaccine is to protect endangered animals