In a major pandemic breakthrough, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday launched India's first indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine for animals. Known as Anocovax, the jab has been developed by Haryana's ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines and provides immunity against both, Delta and Omicron variants of the coronavirus. Reportedly, the centre has also launched an antibody detection kits for animals, to trace the infection and ensue treatment.

The Anocovax animal vaccine is an inactivated SARS-Cov-2 Delta vaccine that claims to offer immunity against COVID-19 to animals. It also contains Alhydrogel as an adjuvant, as stated by the ICAR. Resultantly, Anocovax is effective against for Delta and Omicron strains of the coronavirus and is safe to use for dogs, lions, leopards, mice and rabbits.

In addition to this, the Centre has also developed CAN-CoV-2 ELISA, an antibody to trace and identity infection among animals. This is a sensitive and specific nucleocapsid protein-based indirect ELISA kit, which is superior than any kit available in the market, for detection of antibodies in canines. A patent has been filed for this Made-In-India kit.

During the nascent stages of the pandemic outbreak in 2020, initial studies could not clearly underline if animals, especially domestic, could contract the virus or not. While most reports did hint at a no-threat situation, nothing could be confirmed. Some cases of pets catching the virus from their owners also surfaced. However, the evidence of the infection spreading from animals to owners remains also unsubstantial. However, the need for such a vaccine was a must and its development comes a victory.