The veterinary profession and COVID-19
WHEN IN March 2020 the entire world changed in the global response to the rapidly spreading SARS CoV2 pandemic, the veterinary community felt the shocks. The veterinary community has been preparing for and dealing with trans-boundary disease situations and emerging and re-emerging epidemic situations for decades. A significant part of our training in veterinary schools and our continuing professional development education has been devoted to this topic and most particularly, to those diseases that have zoonotic potential. We have had Mad Cow Disease, Avian Influenza (H5N1) and ‘Swine Flu’ (H1N1) as major threats. We deal with the ever-present continuing threat of rabies, foot and mouth disease and Blue tongue disease.
In many jurisdictions, the practice of veterinary medicine is recognised as an essential service, but this was by no means universal and in some countries, there was a struggle to gain that recognition. A significant role of the veterinary profession is the protection and monitoring of the global movement of food and products of animal origin – from conch to feathers for carnival costumes, and the constant surveillance for diseases, some of which can cross national boundaries with or without human intervention. Veterinarians also conduct meat and milk inspections and certification and provide care for food-producing animals, which ensures the animals’ welfare, good health and sustained productivity. These services help support the livelihood of farmers and ensures national food supplies and food safety.
During the pandemic, the value of the human-animal bond became more evident as people, under lockdown, turned to the comfort of the company of pets for psychological support. Reports of increases in pet adoptions and increases in demand for pet-health care are prevalent. As we continued to have a societal responsibility to provide health care and also support the mental health of animal owners in this time of great stress, veterinarians throughout the world found innovative ways to continue to provide care, while keeping their teams and clients safe and healthy. New methods of delivery of service, which limit client-staff contact such as offering concierge curbside services, offering pick-up and dropoff services, restricting clients from the exam rooms, and telemedicine were instituted. Veterinary regulatory bodies had to be agile in reviewing the rules governing the profession to allow for many of these changes to be implemented.
Veterinary practice has also been affected by the worldwide supplychain disruptions in the supply of PPE and pharmaceuticals. While recognising the higher priority of our human-health providers for PPE, we have had to develop ways to clean and safely re-use items, and even share supplies with human hospitals and clinic. In some countries, veterinary hospitals have given their ventilators to human hospitals and some veterinarians have volunteered as first responders.
As the disease has continued to surge, many veterinary teams have been inflicted with COVID and some have died. The economic fallout is still being counted, even though the demand for our services remains high, the capability of our clients to pay would be in jeopardy. We are, however, a resilient profession and the initiative and innovation already shown will ensure our survival and our continued service to the world.