Protecting the gorilla population with COVID-19 vaccines
The list of eligible recipients for the COVID-19 vaccine has expanded to include great apes as the first non-human recipients outside of an experiment in the US. The San Diego Zoo confirmed eight gorillas tested positive for COVID-19 and present another threat to the gorilla population.
A win for science: our partners at @Zoetis, a veterinary pharmaceutical company, developed a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) that we used to vaccinate great apes at the Zoo. The vaccine was created specifically for animals. @NatGeo https://t.co/ZpM5QVD4pl
— San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (@sandiegozoo) March 5, 2021
One of the wildlife care specialists diagnosed with COVID-19 leading to the infection of several gorillas and put the San Diego Zoo on high alert to prevent spreading the disease. The infected gorillas experienced mild symptoms initially but fully recovered by mid-February with staff working to secure vaccine doses for vulnerable gorillas in the zoo.
The San Diego Zoo secured experimental vaccine doses from the veterinary pharmaceutical company Zoetis with nine total recipients including five bonobos and four orangutans. The Zoetis vaccine is created for animals that are not built nor suitable for human use.
Global Conservation and Wildlife Health Officer Nadine Lamberski said the "alarm bells" first went off when the zoo's 49-year-old silverback gorilla named Winston started coughing days after finding out one of their wildlife care specialists had COVID-19.https://t.co/ufTKwsnnq0 pic.twitter.com/0RwDqCCUv5
— Science Insider (@SciInsider) March 4, 2021
All three COVID-19 vaccines created in the US including Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer were tested on monkeys in experimental lab trials but the group of apes at the San Diego Zoo are the first non-humans to receive a COVID-19 vaccine outside an experiment. Apes are closely related to the gorillas in family groups with the same infection rate that could quickly spread through both family groups. Vaccinating gorillas and apes will help support conservation efforts of the gorilla population with less than 5,000 gorillas left in the wild.
