Zookeepers with the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro say they're expecting a shipment of experimental COVID-19 vaccines specially designed for animals this month, allowing them to start vaccinating some of the animals in their care.
The zoo's primates will be first in line for the shots, said Dr. Jb Minter, director of animal health at the North Carolina Zoo.
"We were only able to get enough for our gorillas and chimps, and that's two doses. It's a two-dose series, just like a lot of the vaccines that the humans are using," Minter said.
The first shipment is expected to arrive by the end of July, and the second shipment will arrive sometime after.
Minter said the second shipment will provide enough doses for zookeepers to vaccinate some of the zoo's lions, sand cats, cougars, bobcats, red wolves and bears.
No COVID-19 cases have been reported among the animals at the North Carolina Zoo so far, although they are at risk of contracting the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The animal vaccines were donated and developed by the veterinary pharmaceutical company Zoetis. The company said ina news release that it had developed more than 11,000 doses of the experimental vaccine, and is donating them to nearly 70 zoos, as well as "more than a dozen" conservatories, sanctuaries, academic institutions and government organizations in 27 states.
Several zoos have already received shipments and begun vaccinating their residents, including the Denver Zoo, the Oakland Zoo and the San Diego Zoo, where a troop of gorillas became infected in January, possibly from an asymptomatic zookeeper.
Other wildlife facilities that have reported COVID-19 outbreaks include the Bronx Zoo, where several lions and tigers contracted the virus in April 2020.
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