Dogs and cats may also need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to help stem the spread of the infectious disease – amid the threat of “continuous evolution of the virus in animals,” warned the scientists.
Researchers at the University of East Anglia and the Earlham Institute, both in the United Kingdom, and the University of Minnesota warned of the “significant long-term risk to public health” of such a broadcast in an editorial for Virulence.
“It is not unthinkable that vaccination of some species of domesticated animals may … be necessary to stop the spread of the infection,” wrote the experts in the peer-reviewed medical journal, reported the UK Independent.
Although there are no known cases in which a human contracted COVID-19 from a furry family member, Cock van Oosterhout, a professor of evolutionary genetics at UEA in Norwich, said we should prepare “for any eventuality”.
“It makes sense to develop vaccines for pets, for pets, just as a precaution to reduce this risk,” he said. “What we need to be as a human society, we really need to be prepared for any eventuality when it comes to COVID.”
Last year, Denmark was forced to sacrifice millions of mink after hundreds of cases of coronavirus in the country were related to the cultivated creatures.
If that happened to dogs and cats, it would represent “a significant long-term risk to public health,” warned the editorial.
“The continuing evolution of the virus in reservoir animal hosts, followed by spillback events in susceptible human hosts, represents a significant long-term risk to public health,” wrote the group of scientists.
“SARS-CoV-2 can infect a wide range of host species, including cats, dogs, minks and other wild and domesticated species, and therefore vaccination of domestic animals may be necessary to stop the evolution of the virus and spillback events .
The scientists added: “While vaccination campaigns against SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19 are being launched around the world, new virus variants that have the potential to sweep the human population are likely to continue to evolve.”
In the meantime, the group also urges governments to continue to apply strict control measures, such as masking mandates and orders of social distance, to reduce the evolution and spread of any new variants of COVID.