In a move that might invite protests from the animal welfare activists, the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) under the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, has recommended that stray dogs may be used for new vaccine trials and challenge studies of vaccines subject to adhering the guidelines of the Committee.
Incidentally, the proposal has come at a time when there have been increasing reports of stray dogs' attacks and bite cases.
The panel has warned that before deploying them (stray dogs) in the vaccine trial process they must be quarantined and rehabilitated so that the trial process is effective. The suggestions also come in the backdrop of various vaccines being developed against a range of zoonotic diseases like Covid-19, Monkeypox and Lumpy Skin Disease in cattle. Besides, many vaccine research projects are in the pipeline.
The panel in its 101st meeting, “recommended that stray dogs may be used for new vaccine trials and challenge studies of vaccines, however, they must be quarantined and rehabilitated as per the guidelines of CPCSEA.”
In cases of the batch testing of established vaccines except for challenge studies, dogs coming to the clinics can be used for safety and/or potency trials, it said in a circular, signed by CPCSEA member-secretary Dr SK Dutta, Joint Commissioner (Animal Welfare in the Ministry) to all registered research and other establishments and nominees of the Committee. According to the mandate of the CPCSEA, the panel is duty bound to take all such measures as may be necessary to ensure that animals are not subjected to unnecessary pain or suffering before, during or after performance of experiments on them.
According to the norms, animal research plays a key role in developing successful vaccines for humans. Before promising vaccine candidates can be tested in humans, they must first be tested for safety and effectiveness in animals as required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
To do this, scientists first determine whether a vaccine candidate can stimulate an adequate and safe immune response.
This important step is often conducted using small and then, potentially, larger animal models of disease. Mice are frequently used because they reproduce rapidly, have a well-characterized immune system and a defined genome. Syrian hamsters are another important animal model for Covid-19 because disease in those animals closely resembles the disease in humans.
As far as stray dogs are concerned, their number is estimated to be around 1.6 crore in India while there were around 17.01 lakh dog bites in 2021. The highest number of street dogs is in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Odisha, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
The four states with the highest incidents of street dog bites are Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Gujarat. India accounts for 36 percent of the world’s rabies deaths. Around 20,000 people die annually in the country due to rabies, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
