Due to a mutation of the coronavirus already transmitted to 12 people, Denmark announced on Wednesday that it was going to slaughter all of the fifteen million mink raised on its territory.
Denmark will slaughter all of the fifteen million mink raised in its territory because of a mutation of Covid-19 already transmitted to 12 people, which threatens the effectiveness of a future vaccine for humans, announced Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Wednesday.
"The virus mutated via mink can create the risk that the future vaccine does not work as it should (...) It is necessary to slaughter all the mink", or 15 to 17 million animals according to the authorities, a said the Prime Minister during a press conference.
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A lesser effect of antibodies
According to the explanations of the Danish authorities, this mutation does not result in more serious effects in humans but in a lower effectiveness of human antibodies, which threatens the development of a vaccine against Covid-19.
The mutated virus detected in mink "does not react as much to antibodies as the normal virus. The antibodies still have an effect, but not as effective", explained the head of the Danish Infectious Disease Control Authority (SSI), Kåre Mølbak.
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A first campaign this summer
"Continuing to breed mink would involve a much higher risk to public health, both in Denmark and abroad," he said.
Denmark is the world's largest exporter of mink skins, an activity that has made the fortune of more than a thousand farms in the small Nordic kingdom.
After the first cases of Covid-19 in mink, Copenhagen had already launched a slaughter campaign this summer in infected farms.
Is the efficacy of a vaccine threatened?
The twelve cases of transmission to humans of the mutated virus have been detected in northern Jutland (west), where most of the farms are concentrated.
According to Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke, "research has shown that the mutations may affect current candidates for a vaccine against Covid-19".
"It is a threat to the development of vaccines against the coronavirus, that is why we must lead a national campaign," he insisted.