San Diego zoo apes given experimental vaccine

Several great apes at San Diego Zoo have been given an experimental Covid-19 vaccine designed for animals after an outbreak among gorillas there.

Four orangutans and five bonobos each had two doses of a jab made by Zoetis, a veterinary pharmaceutical firm, reports BBC.

Eight gorillas at the zoo became the first great apes in the world to test positive for Covid-19 in January. They are now receovering.

Conservationists are concerned about the threat of Covid-19 to great apes.

They are particularly worried about the danger to gorillas, which have populations that are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.

"This isn't the norm," Nadine Lamberski, chief conservation officer at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, told National Geographic.

"In my career, I haven't had access to an experimental vaccine this early in the process and haven't had such an overwhelming desire to want to use one,"

Karen, the first orangutan in the world to have open-heart surgery in 1994, was among those to get a jab.

Ms Lamberski said the apes had not suffered any adverse reactions and would soon be tested for antibodies to determine if the shots were a success.