Great apes get experimental vaccine after outbreak at zoo

SEVERAL great apes at the San Diego Zoo have been given experimental Covid-19 vaccines for animals, becoming the first known non-human primates to receive a vaccine in the US.

The two-dose vaccine was developed by Zoetis, a veterinary pharmaceutical company that was founded as a subsidiary of Pfizer. Zoetis’s experimental vaccine had only been used on cats and dogs until the gorillas received jabs, said officials. Among those vaccinated was an orang-utan named Karen, which was the first to have open-heart surgery in 1994, as well as three other orangutans, and five bonobos.

“We commonly use vaccines designed with dogs and cats for lions and tigers,” Nadine Lamberski, the chief conservation and wildlife health officer for the San Diego Wildlife Alliance, told the National Geographic TV network.

“It’s not like we randomly grab a vaccine and give it to a novel species.”

Zookeepers at San Diego Zoo Safari Park became concerned after a 49-yearold silverback gorilla named Winston started coughing. Eight gorillas at the park had since tested positive for Covid.

Though the vaccine had only been tested on cats and dogs, Ms Lamberski said it was worth the risk.

She added that vaccinating apes “wasn’t the norm” but felt it necessary.

Globally, the virus has been detected in tigers, lions, mink, snow leopards, cougars, a ferret, dogs and cats, but the fact that great apes were susceptible to Covid-19 had scientists especially concerned as there were only around 5,000 gorillas remaining in the wild.

Other zoos in the US have requested the vaccine for their great apes.