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A Danish vaccine specialist has warned that the Covid-19 variant of the mink could start a new wave of coronavirus.
“The worst case scenario is that we start a new pandemic in Denmark. There is a risk that this mutated virus is so different from the others that we would have to put new things in a vaccine and therefore [the mutation] it would hit us all around the world right from the start, ”said Professor Kåre Mølbak, a vaccine expert and director of infectious diseases at the Danish State Serum Institute (SSI).
However, he added that the world was in a better place than when the Covid-19 outbreak began. “We know the virus, we have measures in place that include testing and infection control, and the outbreak will be contained, to the best of our ability. knowledge.”
Denmark, the world’s largest mink producer, said on Wednesday that it plans to euthanize more than 15 million animals, due to fears that a Covid-19 mutation that moves from mink to humans could jeopardize future vaccines.
Announcing the slaughter, the country’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said 12 people were already infected with the mutated virus and that mink is now considered a public health risk, according to advice from the SSI.
Professor Allan Randrup Thomsen, a virologist at the University of Copenhagen, went further, telling The Guardian on Thursday that while Denmark was not “about to be the next Wuhan,” there were risks.
“This variant can develop further, so that it becomes completely resistant, and then a vaccine doesn’t matter. Therefore, we must take [the mutation] out of the equation. So it’s serious. “
In interviews with the Danish media, Thomsen advised closing northern Denmark due to the risks of mink farms, a task facilitated by the Limfjord, which runs through northern Jutland.
Although the bridges spanning the fjord remain open, all restaurants, pubs, cafes and sports activities in the area will be closing shortly.
A Dutch virologist and zoonosis expert, Wim van der Poel, said more research is needed but that even without the mutation, a reservoir of the virus should be avoided in mink or other mustelids like badgers and martens.
“It appears that the mutation of the mink variant is in the spike protein of the Sars-Cov-2 virus, but we don’t really know. And we don’t know what type of vaccine we are going to have. So much more research is needed, ”said Van der Poel.
But even without a mutation, continued circulation within mink herds can pose a risk to humans. “We assume [this] It is also a risk in the Netherlands, but our fur farming is already being eliminated. There is no more fur production now after the end of this year, ”he said.
Van der Poel is studying the effect of the spread of Covid-19 to mustelids, a family of carnivorous mammals that includes weasels, badgers, otters, ferrets, martens and wolverines, among others. “If that happens, then you have a reservoir in our local wildlife, and we could get re-infected even before we get a good quality vaccine.”
Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at the University of Reading, said: “The idea that the virus mutates into a new species is not surprising as it must adapt to be able to use mink receptors to enter cells and therefore Therefore, it will modify the spike protein to allow this to happen efficiently.
“The danger is that the mutated virus could then spread back to man and evade any vaccine response that would have been designed for the original, non-mutated version of the beak protein, and not the version adapted to mink. Of course, the mink version may not transmit well to man, so this is a theoretical risk, but Denmark is clearly taking a cautious stance in trying to eradicate the mink version to avoid or make this much less likely. possibility “.
Jussi Peura, research director of the Finnish Fur Breeders Association and animal geneticist, was more optimistic. He said he understood the concern in Denmark, but felt that the decision to carry out a sacrifice might have been too extreme.
Instead, he suggested continuing the control measures that were working in Finland.
“Right now we have zero cases on fur farms in Finland. We have a total of around 700 fur farms and of them around 150 are mink, all free of Covid-19 so far “
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