Covid-19: Too early to judge if mutation in mink can impact vaccine, WHO chief scientist

Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization Soumya Swaminathan on Friday, November 6 said that it was too early to decide if the coronavirus mutation found in the farmed mink population of Denmark could impact the vaccine. The mutated version of COVID-19 was detected at mink farms in Denmark's North Jutland region, following which authorities had ordered the culling of the animals. The analysis conducted by the Danish State Serum Institute and the Danish government confirmed the presence of the virus among the farm’s mink. 

Covid-19 mutation due to mink

During a virtual press briefing, Swaminathan said, “We need to wait and see what the implications are, but I don’t think we should come to any conclusions about whether this particular mutation is going to impact vaccine efficacy or not. We don’t have any evidence at the moment that it would”. Denmark has said that it might need to kill upto 17 million minks over the fear of the new mutation that may spread back to humans. In August, the Dutch government decided to bring an early end to mink farming in the country as lawmakers advanced deadline by three years. However, they decided that it was justified to let infected animals survive because the risk of spreading the infection to humans seemed minimal. It was in late September when the cases at Danish mink farms soared.

Read: Denmark Announces Lockdown After COVID-19 Outbreak In Mink Farms

According to the reports by ANI, Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid-19 Technical Lead at WHO Health Emergencies Programme said, “In this situation, there is a suggestion that some of these mutations may have some implications, but we need to do the proper studies to evaluate this. and that is ongoing right now with colleagues at the SSI in Denmark as well as our international working group”. She added, “As this virus continues to circulate the globe, as we see it in mink, in different populations, those sequences need to be shared because they need to be evaluated, they need to be studied, they need to be discussed”. 

Read: Denmark Lockdown Over Mutated Mink Virus Fear

Recently, the Danish government has imposed a tougher lockdown in parts of the country where a new strain of coronavirus was discovered in minks population. The Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced the closure of schools and public transport, where most of these affected mink farms are located, encouraging people to stay where they are and get tested. According to reports, 17 million minks will be culled as a result of the latest discovery. The mink skin industry is one of the biggest contributors to Denmark's economy as it is the country's third-biggest agricultural export. Earlier this year, over 1 million minks were culled after COVID-19 cases were reported from and around 400 farms in Denmark. 

Read: North Denmark In Lockdown Over Mutated Mink Coronavirus Fear

Also Read: Denmark To Kill Over 1 Million Minks Over Suspected Link To COVID-19 Outbreak

(Image Credits: PTI/RepresentativeImage)