Covid Vaccines for Pets?

Could your pet get COVID too? Research has shown that pets can catch the Coronavirus. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proven that 15 species of animals, including dogs and cats, can get COVID.

As of January of 2022, there is not a Covid-19 vaccine for pets. When and if our pets were to contract the virus, they are not known to get sick. It is also very rare that pets would get the virus.

However, pets can pass the virus on to us. But, according to the FDA and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of this is very low.

“A vaccine is quite unlikely, I think, for dogs and cats,” Dr. Will Sander, a veterinarian at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said. “The risk of disease spread and illness in pets is so low that any vaccine would not be worth giving.”

Zoo animals are a different story. About 70 different zoos around the US are testing a vaccine for their animals. Masks are not required unless you are inside or on the giraffe deck. The North Carolina Zoo has started to vaccinate their animals including all 7 of their gorillas and 16 of their chimpanzees. They are using a vaccine manufactured by Zoetis.

“There is no scientific evidence that domestic animals are presenting with Covid-19 therefore there is no vaccine for pets,” says Dr. Blakeley Murrell-Liland of the Kedron Valley Veterinary Clinic in Woodstock.

It’s good to know that our pets should be safe.

Information for this article is from “Zoo animals are getting their COVID vaccines, too” from NPR.org and “Why Don’t We Have a Covid Vaccine for Pets?” from nytimes.com