Two Chile vets investigated for giving dog coronavirus vaccines to people

The pair administered vaccines developed against canine coronavirus to people in the city of Calama before human jabs arrived in the country

At least 75 residents had received the dog inoculations, including health workers and miners

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A medical worker prepares a dose of the CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine at the Salvador Sanfuentes public school in Santiago, Chile. File photo: AP

Published: 12:15pm, 21 Apr 2021Updated: 12:16pm, 21 Apr 2021

Two veterinary surgeons in Chile are under investigation for allegedly giving dog coronavirus vaccines to at least 75 people in the months before human jabs arrived in the country, health officials said on Tuesday.

The pair stand accused of having administered vaccines developed against canine coronavirus, which is not the same as the Sars-CoV-2 virus responsible for the global human pandemic, to people in the city of Calama in Chile’s north.

Questions first arose last September, when visiting health officials noted workers at a veterinary clinic in Calama operating without masks. Questioned, they claimed they had been vaccinated by a local veterinary surgeon.

The first Covid-19 vaccines arrived in Chile months later, in December.

It later transpired another vet had given the canine vaccine to more people.

“This is very dangerous,” health secretary Rossana Diaz of the Antofagasta region told broadcaster 24horas.

“There are studies saying that the effects in humans can be local, as in irritation … or systemic,” she added.