"Every night" officers are seizing shipments from Shenzhen, China, headed to New Orleans, Louisiana, containing dozens of blank counterfeit vaccination cards, CBP said in a press release Friday.
The cards have spaces where the recipient can write their name, birth date and vaccine information. The cards also come with a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention logo on the top.
"However, there were typos, unfinished words, and some of the Spanish verbiage on the back was misspelled," CBP said. "How else did they [CBP officers] know it was counterfeit? It was imported by a non-CDC or medical entity, and this was not the first time they had seen this shipper."
Patrol officers working at the Area Port in Memphis confiscate multiple fake vaccine card shipments -- sometimes up to 15 -- every day, according to CBP. The packages are often labeled as "Paper Greeting Cards/Use For-Greeting Card" or "PAPER PAPER CARD."
So far, Memphis CBPO have seized 121 packages containing 3,017 cards, according to CBP.
"These vaccinations are free and available everywhere," Area Port Director of Memphis Michael Neipert said in the release. "If you do not wish to receive a vaccine, that is your decision. But don't order a counterfeit, waste my officer's time, break the law, and misrepresent yourself."
"CBP Officers at the Area Port of Memphis remain committed to stopping counterfeit smuggling and helping to protect our communities," Neipert said. "But just know that when you order a fake vaxx card, you are using my officers time as they also seize fentanyl and methamphetamines."
CNN's Kay Jones contributed to this report.
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The number of nursing homes across the state with at least one active COVID-19 case has shot up nearly 800% in the past month while nearly half of nursing home employees in Texas remain unvaccinated.
Nursing home residents were among the hardest hit by COVID-19 last year as the virus tore through facilities at an alarming rate. More than 400 Texas nursing home residents died during a single week in August 2020; since the pandemic began, 9,095 have died after contracting COVID-19, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. As of Aug. 11, thats 17% of the states COVID-19 deaths.
To slow the viruss spread, Gov. Greg Abbott shut down nursing home visitation in March 2020, then eased those restrictions five months later for facilities that didnt have active cases in the previous two weeks. HHSCs current visitation guidelines for nursing homes require visitors to wear a mask at all times and limits visitation to no more than two essential caregivers per resident.
But after seeing infections remain relatively low in recent months, the states more than 1,200 nursing homes are seeing a new wave of infections as COVID-19 cases explode around the state, driven by the highly contagious delta variant:
But the current surge in nursing home cases hasnt triggered renewed restrictions by the state.
We continually assess what actions are necessary to keep people safe in the facilities we regulate, HHSC spokesperson Helena Wright-Jones said in a written statement.
Meanwhile, just over half 56% of nursing home staff have been fully vaccinated, below the national average of 59%, which puts Texas 33rd nationally for nursing home staff vaccination rates.
The state doesnt require nursing home residents or staff to be vaccinated. Wright-Jones said nursing homes are required to offer the vaccine to residents, and her agency highly encourages vaccination against COVID-19 for all long-term care facility staff and residents.
Some national nursing home chains have begun requiring their staff to be vaccinated, and all nursing home staffers in Massachusetts will be required to be vaccinated by Oct. 10 under an order by Gov. Charlie Baker, according to Boston radio station WBUR.
Kevin Warren, the president and CEO of the Texas Health Care Association, whose members include both for-profit and nonprofit long-term health care facilities, said nursing homes are hesitant to require staff to be vaccinated because they are fearful of losing employees who might look for other jobs that dont require vaccinations.
Right now, we have a severely stretched workforce, Warren said. And when we see this surge occurring again, the stress and the emotional toll it places on staff and others that are in the building, the concern is: If I put this vaccine mandate on, am I potentially going to lose staff?
The percentage of nursing home staffers who are unvaccinated is similar to the general population, Warren added, so lets not set them out to the side.
Warren said the pandemic has put big financial burdens on the industry.
Our real focus right now is having and getting additional resource relief, Warren said. And getting financial support and financial assistance to pay for the testing, to pay for the [personal protective equipment for staff] and to pay for the significantly added costs in recruiting and retaining staff especially at this critical time.
Annaliese Impink, executive vice president and spokesperson for Retama Manor Nursing Center, which operates around 55 nursing homes in the state, said 70% of its staff have been vaccinated, well above the state rate for nursing home workers. Still, around 20 of the companys facilities currently have one or more active COVID-19 cases among staff and residents.
We believe that the spread is caused by the unvaccinated staff members, Impink said. ... Our residents are in our center and dont often go out, and our vaccination rates in our centers are pretty good. So, you just have to surmise that its primarily coming in from unvaccinated staff members.
Retama Manor requires its executives, administrators and managers to be vaccinated, and is considering whether to require all staff to get the shot. Some of the staff are not getting vaccinated, she said, because of a lot of misinformation out in the community, and theres the anti-vaxxer movement thats facilitating the misinformation.
Impink said most residents who are vaccinated and test positive for the virus are not getting severe symptoms typically its nothing more than a sore throat or runny nose.
But the residents and staff that are not vaccinated are seeing more acute symptoms, Impink said, adding that some unvaccinated residents have been hospitalized after getting the virus.
At Focused Post Acute Care Partners, which runs 31 Texas nursing homes, about 55% of its roughly 2,200 staff members are fully vaccinated, according to Becky Anderson, the companys chief clinical officer.
Most Focused Care residents who test positive for COVID-19 are sent to the companys 87-bed facility in Baytown, where residents from other nursing homes across the state are also sent. The facility is currently treating 45 patients with the virus, according to Anderson, up from 14 on June 30.
And like Retama Manor, the company doesnt require staff to get vaccinated.
Getting the vaccine for COVID-19 is a personal choice, and Focused Post Acute Care Partners, at this time, is honoring that choice, Anderson said. We continue to educate and re-educate infection control practices within our organization ... [about] the importance of protecting the residents and our staff from the virus, and it is frustrating and kind of exhausting that we may be going through this next wave of breakthrough cases, but our health care workers will continue to fight this fight.
Disclosure: The Texas Health Care Association has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Join us Sept. 20-25 at the 2021 Texas Tribune Festival. Tickets are on sale now for this multi-day celebration of big, bold ideas about politics, public policy and the days news, curated by The Texas Tribunes award-winning journalists. Learn more.
Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
The number of nursing homes across the state with at least one active COVID-19 case has shot up nearly 800% in the past month while nearly half of nursing home employees in Texas remain unvaccinated.
Nursing home residents were among the hardest hit by COVID-19 last year as the virus tore through facilities at an alarming rate. More than 400 Texas nursing home residents died during a single week in August 2020; since the pandemic began, 9,095 have died after contracting COVID-19, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. As of Aug. 11, thats 17% of the states COVID-19 deaths.
To slow the viruss spread, Gov. Greg Abbott shut down nursing home visitation in March 2020, then eased those restrictions five months later for facilities that didnt have active cases in the previous two weeks. HHSCs current visitation guidelines for nursing homes require visitors to wear a mask at all times and limits visitation to no more than two essential caregivers per resident.
But after seeing infections remain relatively low in recent months, the states more than 1,200 nursing homes are seeing a new wave of infections as COVID-19 cases explode around the state, driven by the highly contagious delta variant:
But the current surge in nursing home cases hasnt triggered renewed restrictions by the state.
We continually assess what actions are necessary to keep people safe in the facilities we regulate, HHSC spokesperson Helena Wright-Jones said in a written statement.
Meanwhile, just over half 56% of nursing home staff have been fully vaccinated, below the national average of 59%, which puts Texas 33rd nationally for nursing home staff vaccination rates.
The state doesnt require nursing home residents or staff to be vaccinated. Wright-Jones said nursing homes are required to offer the vaccine to residents, and her agency highly encourages vaccination against COVID-19 for all long-term care facility staff and residents.
Some national nursing home chains have begun requiring their staff to be vaccinated, and all nursing home staffers in Massachusetts will be required to be vaccinated by Oct. 10 under an order by Gov. Charlie Baker, according to Boston radio station WBUR.
Kevin Warren, the president and CEO of the Texas Health Care Association, whose members include both for-profit and nonprofit long-term health care facilities, said nursing homes are hesitant to require staff to be vaccinated because they are fearful of losing employees who might look for other jobs that dont require vaccinations.
Right now, we have a severely stretched workforce, Warren said. And when we see this surge occurring again, the stress and the emotional toll it places on staff and others that are in the building, the concern is: If I put this vaccine mandate on, am I potentially going to lose staff?
The percentage of nursing home staffers who are unvaccinated is similar to the general population, Warren added, so lets not set them out to the side.
Warren said the pandemic has put big financial burdens on the industry.
Our real focus right now is having and getting additional resource relief, Warren said. And getting financial support and financial assistance to pay for the testing, to pay for the [personal protective equipment for staff] and to pay for the significantly added costs in recruiting and retaining staff especially at this critical time.
Annaliese Impink, executive vice president and spokesperson for Retama Manor Nursing Center, which operates around 55 nursing homes in the state, said 70% of its staff have been vaccinated, well above the state rate for nursing home workers. Still, around 20 of the companys facilities currently have one or more active COVID-19 cases among staff and residents.
We believe that the spread is caused by the unvaccinated staff members, Impink said. ... Our residents are in our center and dont often go out, and our vaccination rates in our centers are pretty good. So, you just have to surmise that its primarily coming in from unvaccinated staff members.
Retama Manor requires its executives, administrators and managers to be vaccinated, and is considering whether to require all staff to get the shot. Some of the staff are not getting vaccinated, she said, because of a lot of misinformation out in the community, and theres the anti-vaxxer movement thats facilitating the misinformation.
Impink said most residents who are vaccinated and test positive for the virus are not getting severe symptoms typically its nothing more than a sore throat or runny nose.
But the residents and staff that are not vaccinated are seeing more acute symptoms, Impink said, adding that some unvaccinated residents have been hospitalized after getting the virus.
At Focused Post Acute Care Partners, which runs 31 Texas nursing homes, about 55% of its roughly 2,200 staff members are fully vaccinated, according to Becky Anderson, the companys chief clinical officer.
Most Focused Care residents who test positive for COVID-19 are sent to the companys 87-bed facility in Baytown, where residents from other nursing homes across the state are also sent. The facility is currently treating 45 patients with the virus, according to Anderson, up from 14 on June 30.
And like Retama Manor, the company doesnt require staff to get vaccinated.
Getting the vaccine for COVID-19 is a personal choice, and Focused Post Acute Care Partners, at this time, is honoring that choice, Anderson said. We continue to educate and re-educate infection control practices within our organization ... [about] the importance of protecting the residents and our staff from the virus, and it is frustrating and kind of exhausting that we may be going through this next wave of breakthrough cases, but our health care workers will continue to fight this fight.
Disclosure: The Texas Health Care Association has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Join us Sept. 20-25 at the 2021 Texas Tribune Festival. Tickets are on sale now for this multi-day celebration of big, bold ideas about politics, public policy and the days news, curated by The Texas Tribunes award-winning journalists. Learn more.
CNN
The US remains among nations with the highest rate of new Covid-19 cases, driven mostly by a surge in the South, where many states are lagging in getting people vaccinated against the coronavirus.
This is starting to look really ominous in the South. If you look at rates of transmission in Florida and Louisiana, theyre actually probably the highest in the world, Dr. Peter Hotez, the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNNs Anderson Cooper on Friday.
Infection rates began to plummet in the US in the spring as vaccines became widely available, while the seven-day moving average of daily confirmed cases climbed in other nations, including India and Brazil, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
In the month of August, the US has so far reported more than 1.5 million new cases of Covid-19, more than three times the numbers for Iran and India which now hold second and third place, JHU data shows. And the seven-day average has topped more than 135,000 cases, well ahead of other nations.
On a state-by-state comparison, Louisiana has the highest rate of new cases per capita, followed by Florida.
Thats how badly things have gotten out of hand. There is a screaming level of transmission across the southern states right now. And now were starting to see this happening among younger age groups, Hotez said.
Florida on Friday broke its own record high in Covid-19 cases over the past week, reporting 151,415 new cases the most infections recorded during a seven-day period since the pandemic upended lives across the globe.
The surge has been fueled by the more contagious coronavirus Delta variant, overwhelming hospitals across the country.
New hospital admissions for Covid-19 among adults ages 30 to 39 have reached a record rate, according to CDC data.
The data show the rate of new hospitalizations reached 2.52 per 100,000 people on Wednesday among adults in their 30s.
Just a month earlier, on July 11, the rate of new hospital admissions of patients with Covid-19 in that age group was 0.64 per 100,000 people, according to the data.
In Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards said hospitalizations hit a pandemic record high of at least 2,907 patients, up by six people from a day earlier.
Theyre not just the highest that theyve ever been. Theyre almost a third higher than at any other point in this pandemic. Our hospitals are struggling. Staff remains the limiting factor on capacity. Our staff at our hospitals, nurses and doctors and respiratory therapists and physicians assistants, you name it, theyre maxed out, the governor said Friday.
Edwards said state hospital leaders are worried about the surges.
I will tell you that Ive never heard them express more concern, more alarm, or anxiety than they did this week, because we are rapidly approaching the breaking point, Edwards added.
And in Alabama, there is an alarming uptick of infants as well as teenagers hospitalized with Covid-19, according to Dr. David Kimberlin, the director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
Were seeing a lot of children who are very, very sick admitted to our hospital. We have almost twice as many right now as we did at the previous worst part of this pandemic, which was probably in January, Kimberlin told CNNs Erin Burnett Friday.
These children are coming in fighting for breath, fighting for the ability to basically get through this devastating illness, many of them are on ventilators, maybe a quarter or so on ventilators or heart-lung bypass machines, he said.
He added that as children return to classrooms, its critically important that everyone in schools masks, whether youre vaccinated or not.
I think the most efficient way to do that is to have a mandate, to have a requirement that everybody needs to do so. And it saddens me that we seem to be fighting about the way we go about doing it. We all ought to and I want to believe that we do have our own childrens best interest at heart. We got to do this for them.
Andrew West/The News-Press/USA Today Network
Nichole Arevalo, an R.N. at the downtown campus of NCH in Naples, Florida, treats a Covid-19 patient in the Intensive Care Unit on August 9, 2021.
But masking children in schools has become increasingly polarizing, especially in states where vaccination rates are lagging and Covid-19 infections as well as hospitalizations continue to increase.
President Joe Biden spoke with school superintendents from Arizona and Florida on Friday to thank them for keeping their students safe despite bad public health measures taken by governors, according to a White House official.
Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas have issued executive orders that ban mask mandates in their states. DeSantis, however, went a step further and threatened to withhold the salaries of superintendents and school board members who disregard his order.
On Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki criticized DeSantis.
As a parent myself of two young children I want public health officials to make decisions about how to keep my kids safe, not politicians, Psaki said at a press briefing.
Not only is Governor DeSantis not abiding by public health decisions, hes fundraising off of this.
The Texas Court of Appeals on Friday ruled against Abbott, upholding that mask mandates may remain in Bexar and Dallas counties. Abbott had requested the appeals court to stay rulings from two lower courts that decided mask mandates in those counties can be effective, despite the governors executive order banning mask mandates.
And in Hays County, Texas, which includes part of Austin, an executive order Saturday from Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra will require that students, staff and visitors wear masks in county schools.
Becerra said the order was intended to slow down community spread of the COVID-19 virus and free up hospital space.
In Arizona, education groups are suing the state for banning public schools from imposing mask and vaccine mandates.
The Arizona School Boards Association, the Arizona Education Association and other advocacy groups filed the lawsuit Thursday, arguing that the new laws favor private schools over public districts because they dont apply to private schools.
Students in Arizonas public and charter schools will be less safe in their educational environment than students in private schools, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit seeks to overturn the bans on mandates. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Attorney General Mark Brnovich did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
This legislative session was unprecedented. The legislature enacted substantive laws in budget reconciliation bills without notice to the public and on subjects that are completely unrelated to one another, plaintiffs attorney Roopali H. Desai said in a written statement provided to CNN.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized an additional third dose to be administered to people with compromised immune systems.
And on Friday, vaccine advisers to the CDC voted unanimously to recommend the additional dose for some immunocompromised people. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky quickly endorsed the vote, which means people can begin getting third doses right away.
On Friday, Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said its important not to confuse that third dose with a booster shot.
These are really about finishing a primary series. Think about childhood immunizations. We have vaccines for which we need three or four doses. What we found here is that the immune-compromised often didnt mount an adequate response at all. So were still trying to build that. That is different than a booster dose where someone did respond and in fact over time that wanes, Osterholm told CNN. I think it was a great decision.
At a meeting of CDC vaccine advisers, Dr. Heather Scobie said a disproportionate number of vaccine breakthroughs are among immunocompromised people. Almost one-third 32% of vaccinated breakthrough cases are among that group, she said.
While immune-compromised people make up about 2.7% of the adult population about 7 million people theyre more vulnerable to infection, said Dr. Amanda Cohn, the executive secretary of the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
She said vaccine effectiveness is about 59% to 72% in immunocompromised people, compared to 90% to 94% overall.
Immunocompromised people are more likely to get severely ill from Covid-19. They are at higher risk for prolonged SARS-CoV-2 infection and shedding and viral evolution during the infection and treatment, particularly amongst hospitalized patients, Cohn said.
CNNs Ray Sanchez, Jason Hoffman, Virginia Langmaid, Rebekah Riess, Deanna Hackney, Andy Rose and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.
Based on the most recent City data that shows hospitalizations are leveling off, as well as cases slowly coming down, the CEO of Zuckerberg SF General Hospital has said SF may have just seen the worst of this wave of COVID-19.
The Delta Variant has shifted our optimistic notion that the pandemic would be over soon; Hot Girl Vaxx Summer has now, more or less, morphed into The Season of COVID Anxiety. Mask wearing and vaccinations continue to be our best tools in fighting the disease (even if herd immunity continues to become more out of reach).
And given that both hospitalization rates and the recorded seven-day rolling average of cases continue to dip, the CEO of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital has said that we might be putting the worst of this COVID-19 wave behind us.
At last here in San Francisco.
Based on what were seeing in the data, it looks like hospitalizations are leveling off and the peak of cases has started coming down, said Dr. Susan Ehrlich, who's the CEO of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, to NBC Bay Area. You know, it appears that way based on the trends were seeing in the data right now."
Given the fast incubation rate of the Delta variant by far the most dominant strain currently circulating the country, as well as the Bay Area the current data set might not be as representative of what's to come. Though it's encouraging, nonetheless. And as Ehrlich says: If nothing else, the pandemic has taught not only here, but the entire population, a lesson in humility.
"But this pandemic has taught me a lot of humility," she continues. "So, its hard to make perfect estimates about whats going to happen. But in this surge, at this time, yes, I would say that."
Ehrlich notes that San Francisco General currently has 19 patients hospitalized with a coronavirus infection; fifteen of those patients are unvaccinatedwhile the other four are breakthrough cases. These figures just further show the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
Solano County has also seen cases remain steady over the past seven days. However hospitalization rates in Alameda County are inching upward; Santa Clara County, as well, has seen a slight increase in COVID-19-related hospitalizations over the past week.
To echo a sentiment said by Dr. Bob Wachter Friday: Us humans don't choose when the pandemic is officially over... the pathogen does. When and if a fifth wave does come crashing down, well be even more prepared for it now.
For more information on Covid-19 vaccines, as well as how to receive one in the City and County of San Francisco, visit sf.gov/get-vaccinated-against-covid-19.
Photo: Getty Images/SerrNovik
Based on the most recent City data that shows hospitalizations are leveling off, as well as cases slowly coming down, the CEO of Zuckerberg SF General Hospital has said SF may have just seen the worst of this wave of COVID-19.
The Delta Variant has shifted our optimistic notion that the pandemic would be over soon; Hot Girl Vaxx Summer has now, more or less, morphed into The Season of COVID Anxiety. Mask wearing and vaccinations continue to be our best tools in fighting the disease (even if herd immunity continues to become more out of reach).
And given that both hospitalization rates and the recorded seven-day rolling average of cases continue to dip, the CEO of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital has said that we might be putting the worst of this COVID-19 wave behind us.
At last here in San Francisco.
Based on what were seeing in the data, it looks like hospitalizations are leveling off and the peak of cases has started coming down, said Dr. Susan Ehrlich, who's the CEO of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, to NBC Bay Area. You know, it appears that way based on the trends were seeing in the data right now."
Given the fast incubation rate of the Delta variant by far the most dominant strain currently circulating the country, as well as the Bay Area the current data set might not be as representative of what's to come. Though it's encouraging, nonetheless. And as Ehrlich says: If nothing else, the pandemic has taught not only here, but the entire population, a lesson in humility.
"But this pandemic has taught me a lot of humility," she continues. "So, its hard to make perfect estimates about whats going to happen. But in this surge, at this time, yes, I would say that."
Ehrlich notes that San Francisco General currently has 19 patients hospitalized with a coronavirus infection; fifteen of those patients are unvaccinatedwhile the other four are breakthrough cases. These figures just further show the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
Solano County has also seen cases remain steady over the past seven days. However hospitalization rates in Alameda County are inching upward; Santa Clara County, as well, has seen a slight increase in COVID-19-related hospitalizations over the past week.
To echo a sentiment said by Dr. Bob Wachter Friday: Us humans don't choose when the pandemic is officially over... the pathogen does. When and if a fifth wave does come crashing down, well be even more prepared for it now.
For more information on Covid-19 vaccines, as well as how to receive one in the City and County of San Francisco, visit sf.gov/get-vaccinated-against-covid-19.
Photo: Getty Images/SerrNovik
The seven-day average of Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. reached 645 on Friday, almost doubling in two weeks to reach the highest point since May, as the delta variant pushes deeper into the country.
Daily infections are up about 66% over the same period and are back at levels last seen in early February -- the average topping 128,000 as of Friday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.
The seven-day average of Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. reached 645 on Friday, almost doubling in two weeks to reach the highest point since May, as the delta variant pushes deeper into the country.
Daily infections are up about 66% over the same period and are back at levels last seen in early February -- the average topping 128,000 as of Friday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.
Loretta is among 77 chimpanzees at a sanctuary in Georgia that may soon self-administer an experimental vaccine designed to protect them from COVID-19.
By Alex ViverosAug. 13, 2021 , 6:15 PM
As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has continued in the United States, a parallel vaccination effort has taken place in some U.S. zoos to protect their animals, particularly great apes. Now, a chimpanzee sanctuary in Georgia is ready to do the same, saying it intends to soon give an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to its primates, who are likely also vulnerable to the pandemic coronavirus.
Having consulted with our vet and several other zoo individuals, were confident that its the right decision for us, says Ali Crumpacker, executive director of the Project Chimps sanctuary. Additional U.S. chimp sanctuaries tell Science they are discussing whether to vaccinate their animals and will watch others efforts closely. But some say they dont see a pressing need to do so, given other precautions they have taken.
Primatologists have worried about great apes, both captive and in the wild, since the start of the pandemic. Chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and bonobos all share versions of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, the cell surface receptor to which SARS-CoV-2 binds to initiate infections. Moreover, human respiratory infections have devastated great ape populations in the past. Great apes are susceptible, to COVID-19, says Jon Epstein, vice president for science and research at EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit devoted to protecting wild animals, and people, from pathogens. There are real, legitimate conservation concerns with this infectious disease.
In response, zoos, sanctuaries, and national parks around the world tightened measures to protect their great apes against COVID-19, increasing their use of masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment (PPE) and further restricting access to the animals. Still, concern grew in January 2021 wheneight gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park contracted the virus.They survived, with just a fit of coughs and congestion to show for it, but the experience led the facility to become the first zoo to vaccinate, giving jabs to nine orangutans and bonobos in February. The animals received an experimental nonhuman COVID-19 vaccine provided by Zoetis, a U.S. company that was originally the animal division of Pfizer. The shots, like one for people made by Novavax thatproved 90% effective against symptomatic infection in clinical trials,uses engineered spike proteins from SARS-CoV-2 to elicit an immune response against the virus.
COVID-19 is here to stay for a long time, and our animals are part of our community, says Nadine Lamberski, chief conservation and wildlife health officer for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. To get herd immunity in our community, we need to vaccinate as many individuals as possible.
Behind the scenes, other zoos and sanctuaries were paying attention. San Diego reported earlier this year that its primates had developed no serious adverse effects to the vaccine, just a few mild reactions such as signs of a headache. Soon after, Zoetis announced that more than 70 zoos, sanctuaries, and other institutions across the United States had requested doses. More than a dozen zoos have started to vaccinate otters, great apes, bears, and other animals.
Now Project Chimps, founded in 2014 and one of six accredited U.S. chimp sanctuaries that house great apes from research labs, the pet trade, and the entertainment industry, is about to receive a shipment of the Zoetis vaccine for its 77 chimps. Although the sanctuary already has COVID-19 precautions and more than 95% of staff are vaccinated, they wanted the extra protection for their animals. We felt reassured by the fact that [zoos] went first and have seen no downsides, Crumpacker says.
The U.S. government declared in 2015 that it wouldstop funding invasive chimpanzee research, and in 2016 the largest private chimpanzee research facility in the worldpledged to send all 220 of its chimpanzeesto Project Chimps within 5 years. That process has been slower than expected and mired incontroversy; so far, 80 chimps have been relocated to Project Chimps.
About 70% of the chimpanzees at Project Chimps have been trained to receive voluntary injections, and the staff is working on preparing the rest. Crumpacker says they will not force the vaccine on chimpanzees that refuse shots and will instead try to vaccinate them later.
But leaders of Chimp Haven, the largest and only federally funded chimpanzee sanctuary in the United States, have decided not to order the vaccine for now. They believe the risk of their chimpanzees contracting COVID-19 is low, given the use of PPE and a high vaccination rate in caretakers. To date, there have been no recorded cases of chimpanzees testing positive for COVID-19 at zoo, sanctuaries or in the wild. At this time, Chimp Haven has chosen not to move forward with the vaccination, but were continuing to keep our options open, says Raven Jackson-Jewett, director of veterinary care and the attending veterinarian at Chimp Haven.
Chimp Haven and several other sanctuaries cited the experimental nature of the Zoetis vaccine and said they wanted to learn more about its efficacy. The vaccine, which was first developed for use in cats and dogs, has only been authorized for experimental use in animals. Zoos and sanctuaries must individually request approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and state veterinarians to receive a dose of each vaccine, which Zoetis then donates.
Zoetis is currently working toward getting a conditional USDA license to use its vaccine in mink, which in some countries are farmed in large numbers for their fur. (The company says a U.S. license would likely make it easier to sell the vaccine abroad). Mink are known to contract SARS-CoV-2 and have been shown to transmit it to people,leading to outbreaks and the culling of many of them on Dutch farms. The company is planning challenge trials in the animalsvaccinating them and deliberately exposing some to the coronavirusto test the vaccines protection and how well it works against variants of COVID-19.
Mahesh Kumar, the senior vice president of global biologics research and development at Zoetis, says the company is confident its vaccine is safe for animals. Still, Kumar acknowledges the vaccines efficacy in different species remains unclear.
Great ape sanctuaries outside of the United States are also pondering whether to vaccinate their animals, although Zoetis shot isnt yet available in other countries. Members of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), an organization that works with 23 primate sanctuaries across 13 African countries, have expressed interest in a COVID-19 vaccine for their animals, according to the groups director, Gregg Tully. Were open to learning more about vaccines, Tully says. Whether they decide to vaccinate their primates depends on a lot of factors.
One may be Africas need to prioritize vaccinating people. Fueled by the Delta variant, COVID-19 cases and deaths have soared in Africa over the past several months, and less than 1.5% of people on the continent are fully vaccinated, according to a recent World Health Organization update. The focus now is on trying to vaccinate the staff and people surrounding the animals as a way to minimize the risk, Tully says. In Africa, right now, the availability of vaccines is increasing but its still frighteningly low.
Loretta is among 77 chimpanzees at a sanctuary in Georgia that may soon self-administer an experimental vaccine designed to protect them from COVID-19.
By Alex ViverosAug. 13, 2021 , 6:15 PM
As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has continued in the United States, a parallel vaccination effort has taken place in some U.S. zoos to protect their animals, particularly great apes. Now, a chimpanzee sanctuary in Georgia is ready to do the same, saying it intends to soon give an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to its primates, who are likely also vulnerable to the pandemic coronavirus.
Having consulted with our vet and several other zoo individuals, were confident that its the right decision for us, says Ali Crumpacker, executive director of the Project Chimps sanctuary. Additional U.S. chimp sanctuaries tell Science they are discussing whether to vaccinate their animals and will watch others efforts closely. But some say they dont see a pressing need to do so, given other precautions they have taken.
Primatologists have worried about great apes, both captive and in the wild, since the start of the pandemic. Chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and bonobos all share versions of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, the cell surface receptor to which SARS-CoV-2 binds to initiate infections. Moreover, human respiratory infections have devastated great ape populations in the past. Great apes are susceptible, to COVID-19, says Jon Epstein, vice president for science and research at EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit devoted to protecting wild animals, and people, from pathogens. There are real, legitimate conservation concerns with this infectious disease.
In response, zoos, sanctuaries, and national parks around the world tightened measures to protect their great apes against COVID-19, increasing their use of masks, gloves, and other personal protective equipment (PPE) and further restricting access to the animals. Still, concern grew in January 2021 wheneight gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park contracted the virus.They survived, with just a fit of coughs and congestion to show for it, but the experience led the facility to become the first zoo to vaccinate, giving jabs to nine orangutans and bonobos in February. The animals received an experimental nonhuman COVID-19 vaccine provided by Zoetis, a U.S. company that was originally the animal division of Pfizer. The shots, like one for people made by Novavax thatproved 90% effective against symptomatic infection in clinical trials,uses engineered spike proteins from SARS-CoV-2 to elicit an immune response against the virus.
COVID-19 is here to stay for a long time, and our animals are part of our community, says Nadine Lamberski, chief conservation and wildlife health officer for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. To get herd immunity in our community, we need to vaccinate as many individuals as possible.
Behind the scenes, other zoos and sanctuaries were paying attention. San Diego reported earlier this year that its primates had developed no serious adverse effects to the vaccine, just a few mild reactions such as signs of a headache. Soon after, Zoetis announced that more than 70 zoos, sanctuaries, and other institutions across the United States had requested doses. More than a dozen zoos have started to vaccinate otters, great apes, bears, and other animals.
Now Project Chimps, founded in 2014 and one of six accredited U.S. chimp sanctuaries that house great apes from research labs, the pet trade, and the entertainment industry, is about to receive a shipment of the Zoetis vaccine for its 77 chimps. Although the sanctuary already has COVID-19 precautions and more than 95% of staff are vaccinated, they wanted the extra protection for their animals. We felt reassured by the fact that [zoos] went first and have seen no downsides, Crumpacker says.
The U.S. government declared in 2015 that it wouldstop funding invasive chimpanzee research, and in 2016 the largest private chimpanzee research facility in the worldpledged to send all 220 of its chimpanzeesto Project Chimps within 5 years. That process has been slower than expected and mired incontroversy; so far, 80 chimps have been relocated to Project Chimps.
About 70% of the chimpanzees at Project Chimps have been trained to receive voluntary injections, and the staff is working on preparing the rest. Crumpacker says they will not force the vaccine on chimpanzees that refuse shots and will instead try to vaccinate them later.
But leaders of Chimp Haven, the largest and only federally funded chimpanzee sanctuary in the United States, have decided not to order the vaccine for now. They believe the risk of their chimpanzees contracting COVID-19 is low, given the use of PPE and a high vaccination rate in caretakers. To date, there have been no recorded cases of chimpanzees testing positive for COVID-19 at zoo, sanctuaries or in the wild. At this time, Chimp Haven has chosen not to move forward with the vaccination, but were continuing to keep our options open, says Raven Jackson-Jewett, director of veterinary care and the attending veterinarian at Chimp Haven.
Chimp Haven and several other sanctuaries cited the experimental nature of the Zoetis vaccine and said they wanted to learn more about its efficacy. The vaccine, which was first developed for use in cats and dogs, has only been authorized for experimental use in animals. Zoos and sanctuaries must individually request approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and state veterinarians to receive a dose of each vaccine, which Zoetis then donates.
Zoetis is currently working toward getting a conditional USDA license to use its vaccine in mink, which in some countries are farmed in large numbers for their fur. (The company says a U.S. license would likely make it easier to sell the vaccine abroad). Mink are known to contract SARS-CoV-2 and have been shown to transmit it to people,leading to outbreaks and the culling of many of them on Dutch farms. The company is planning challenge trials in the animalsvaccinating them and deliberately exposing some to the coronavirusto test the vaccines protection and how well it works against variants of COVID-19.
Mahesh Kumar, the senior vice president of global biologics research and development at Zoetis, says the company is confident its vaccine is safe for animals. Still, Kumar acknowledges the vaccines efficacy in different species remains unclear.
Great ape sanctuaries outside of the United States are also pondering whether to vaccinate their animals, although Zoetis shot isnt yet available in other countries. Members of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), an organization that works with 23 primate sanctuaries across 13 African countries, have expressed interest in a COVID-19 vaccine for their animals, according to the groups director, Gregg Tully. Were open to learning more about vaccines, Tully says. Whether they decide to vaccinate their primates depends on a lot of factors.
One may be Africas need to prioritize vaccinating people. Fueled by the Delta variant, COVID-19 cases and deaths have soared in Africa over the past several months, and less than 1.5% of people on the continent are fully vaccinated, according to a recent World Health Organization update. The focus now is on trying to vaccinate the staff and people surrounding the animals as a way to minimize the risk, Tully says. In Africa, right now, the availability of vaccines is increasing but its still frighteningly low.
