India's first homegrown Covid-19 vaccine Anocovax for animals. All you need to know

Just as India witnesses another steep surge in Covid-19 cases across the country, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday launched the very first homegrown Covid-19 vaccine Anocovax for animals. The new vaccine for animals Anocovax has been developed by the Haryana-based agri-research institute ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines (NRC).

Additionally, the minister launched the 'CAN-CoV-2 ELISA kit', a sensitive and specific nucleocapsid protein-based indirect ELISA kit, for antibody detection against SARS-CoV-2 in canines.

What is Anocovax?

Anocovax is an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Delta Covid-19 vaccine for animals. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) said in a statement that the immunity induced by Anocovax neutralises both Delta and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2.

Here's what to know about India's first Covid vaccine for animals:

• The new vaccine contains inactivated SARS-CoV-2 (Delta) antigen with Alhydrogel as an adjuvant. It is safe for dogs, lions, leopards, mice and rabbits, as per the ICAR statement.
• "It is due to the untiring contributions of scientists that the country stands self-reliant in developing its own vaccines more rather than importing. This is really a big achievement," Tomar said after the virtual launch of the Covid-19 vaccine and diagnostic kits for animals developed by the ICAR-NRC.
• As of now, there are no laboratory animals required for the preparation of the antigens. The kit is made in India and a patent has been filed for the same. 
• No other comparable kits for detection of antibodies in canines are available in the market, as per the ICAR release.
• Surra ELISA kit, a suitable diagnostic assay for 'Trypanosoma evansi' infection in multiple animal species, was also launched.
• It is important to note that Surra is one of the most important haemoprotozoan diseases of the different livestock species caused by Trypanosoma evansi. The disease is prevalent in all the agro-climatic parts of India. In India, losses to livestock productivity were estimated to be ₹44,740 million annually due to Surra, the ICAR noted.
• The minister also launched the Equine DNA parentage testing kit, which is a powerful genomic technology for parentage analysis among horses.