From vials to volunteers and the steady flow of vehicles, the clinic in Gig Harbor, Wash., Looks like one of the mass vaccination events that are happening everywhere today. That is, until you look more closely at patients, like Maise and Gus.
Maise, the rabbit, is not here to take a picture of COVID; she and dozens of other rabbits came to receive the vaccine against RHDV2 (rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus).
Although humans are not affected by the disease, the highly contagious virus is bad news for rabbits. First identified in China in the 1980s, the initial outbreak of RHDV eliminated more than 140 million rabbits. This new strain, RHDVtwo, emerged in France in 2010. In 2019, Washington received its first case.
Dr. Alicia McLaughlin was the first veterinarian in the country to import the vaccine. Since RHDV2 is historically a European disease, no American company has produced a vaccine; she had to get special permission to bring him to the US
CBS News
“We had desperate people, you know, calling our clinic over and over, ‘Hey, we really want this vaccine. Please, please, let us get this vaccine, ‘”she told correspondent Conor Knighton.
The vaccine, said Dr. McLaughlin, “is more than 90% effective, which, as we know again from the material in the COVID vaccine, is really very good. We are very happy with that. Considering that the alternative is almost 100% of lethality, is truth Good.”
Today, cases of RHDV2 have been identified in several states. But, as few veterinarians got the vaccine, finding a dose can still be an ordeal.
Knighton asked, “How far are people coming to take the photo?”
“Several hours,” replied Dr. McLaughlin. “I didn’t see an upper limit on how far people are willing to travel to get the vaccine.”
CBS News
Sue Brennan, owner of Gig Harbor’s Rabbit Haven rescue, has been the driving force behind mass vaccination clinics. She showed Knighton “Ruth Bunner Ginsburg”.
“Rabbits don’t have many champions. Somehow, I connected soul to soul with them and I do everything possible to make your life more fulfilling, better, happier,” said Brennan.
Through a partnership with a local veterinarian, Brennan’s group administered about a thousand injections: “What we are trying to do is more or less as they are doing with COVID: vaccinate everyone, you for the spread, you for the disease . People can go back to normal, rabbits can go back to normal. “
Rabbits are under an unofficial order to stay home. The virus can remain on surfaces, including grass, so they cannot go into the yard. They should definitely not mix with other rabbits outside their “cocoon”.
CBS News
At the moment, the worst outbreak of RHDV2 is in the west and southwest, where a new variant has moved from domestic rabbits to wild ones.
In California, Oakland Zoo, in cooperation with federal and state wildlife agencies, has tested and vaccinated endangered riverside rabbits, just in case the virus reaches this small population of rabbits.
Better safe than sorry, which is why – although there has been no confirmed case in Washington for more than a year – Dr. McLaughlin is still regularly vaccinating her patients.
Knighton asked, “When you give these injections and send a fully vaccinated rabbit on your way, how does it feel?”
“Ah, I love doing that. It makes me so happy!” she answered. “It’s like I’m kicking the virus in the face! Like, ‘Take this! You’re not going to take that rabbit away!'”
For more information:
Story edited by Remington Korper.