Will your cat need a COVID-19 vaccine?
As the virus continues to infect different animal species, scientists say it would be smart to eradicate it entirely before it can mutate into something worse.
When the coronavirus jumped from humans to mink living on farms in Denmark last year, it started to mutate in new ways—and then infect more humans. It’s a scenario that might eventually happen with other animals, and that could potentially make COVID-19 vaccines less effective or even spawn new viruses. That’s why some startups are working on COVID-19 vaccines for animals—including domestic cats.
A feline vaccine for COVID-19 could be available by the end of the year. “We are also concerned with vaccinating people, but we believe that any reservoir of the virus is one to be concerned about,” says James Hayward, CEO of Applied DNA Sciences, which will soon begin clinical trials of the new feline vaccine in New York. The company is working in partnership with Italy-based Takis Biotech, and has manufactured the first doses of a DNA-based vaccine for the trial. “It has never been demonstrated that cats can transfer the virus to humans. But even having been vaccinated, I think I would not want sleeping at my feet a reservoir of SARS-CoV.”
