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“The virus that mutates through mink can create the risk that the future vaccine will not work properly (…) All minks must be killed,” between 15 and 17 million animals, he said at a press conference. .
According to the Danish authorities, this mutation does not result in more serious effects in humans but in a lower efficiency of human antibodies, which threatens the development of a vaccine against Covid-19.
The mutant virus detected in mink “does not react as well to antibodies as normal virus. Antibodies still have an effect, but not as effective,” said Kåre Mølbak of the Danish Infectious Disease Control Authority (SSI).
“Continuing to raise minks would pose too high a risk to public health, both in Denmark and abroad,” he said.
Denmark is the world’s largest exporter of mink fur, an activity that benefits more than a thousand farms in the little northern kingdom. After the first cases of Covid-19 in mink, Copenhagen has already launched a campaign to kill animals on infected farms.
The 12 cases of human transmission of the mutated virus were detected in North (West) Jutland, where most of the farms are concentrated.
According to Health Minister Magnus Heunicke, “Studies have shown that mutations can affect current candidates for a Covid-19 vaccine.”
“It is a threat to the development of vaccines against the coronavirus, so we decided to run a national campaign,” he said.
