KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 ― Several regions in Russia have started vaccinating pets against Covid-19, Daily Mail reported.

Russia had in March reported that it registered the world's first vaccine for animals against Covid-19, Carnivac-Cov, that was developed by the Federal Centre for Animal Health.

Tests showed antibodies are generated in dogs, cats, foxes and minks after vaccination.

“It is the world's first and currently only coronavirus vaccine for animals,” Konstantin Savenkov, head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, said.

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“All the vaccinated animals developed antibodies to coronavirus,” he added.

Military dogs were vaccinated ahead of their appearance at a Red Square parade on May 9 to mark the anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Virologist Dr Nadezhda Rakhmanina said the vaccine was needed in fur farming.

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“Cases of mass deaths of fur-bearing animals abroad, including in Denmark, were reported last year.”

“In general, fur-bearing animals are susceptible to many infectious diseases of humans, they even have a susceptibility to influenza.”

“These animals can get sick with the coronavirus en masse. So the vaccine is really needed.”

Rakhmanina, however, was sceptical about the need for the vaccine for pets.

“Over the past year, it has not been proven that pets can be a source of Covid-19 infection for humans.”

“There are isolated cases of infection in cats, which have been described and proven. But there is no mass evidence yet.”

In January, a group of scientists said that cats and dogs could be vaccinated against Covid-19 in the future.

They said that transmission from animals to humans poses a “significant long-term risk” because domesticated species can get infected and the virus continuously evolves in them as well.