Centre withdraws permission to test new vaccines on stray dogs

A government committee tasked with animal welfare and protection has withdrawn a 2022 circular that allowed stray dogs to be used in vaccine trials.

In September last year, the Committee for the purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA) recommended that stray dogs may be used for new vaccine trials and challenge studies of vaccines, with the condition that these animals ought to be quarantined and rehabilitated as per its guidelines. In cases where batches of established vaccines are being tested, only dogs coming to clinics can be used for safety or potency trials, though not for challenge trials.

Challenge trials involve intentionally infecting a healthy animal with a biological agent, such as a virus, to test the efficacy of a potential vaccine. Such trials are also employed to test vaccines in people.

However, in a circular dated October 5, and made public on Thursday, the CCSEA said that the order on the use of stray dogs was “withdrawn until further orders.” The CCSEA comes under the Department of Animal Husbandry, Ministry of Fisheries and Animal Husbandry.

CCSEA member secretary S.K. Dutta told The Hindu that the order had been withdrawn because “it was not formulated how the vaccine trials will be done.” He added it was unlikely the topic would be reconsidered again.

Unethical, says PETA

Last September’s order was opposed by animal rights groups. The People for the Treatment of Ethical Animals (PETA) wrote to CCSEA chairman O.P. Chaudhary just two days after the order was issued, requesting that “it be withdrawn.”

PETA described the order as “unethical” and “contravening the duties assigned to CPCSEA by the Government of India.” Rule 10 of the Breeding of and Experiments on the Animals (Control and Supervision) Amendment Rules, 2006, says that animals can be procured for experiments only from registered breeders, with exemptions only made if there was a shortage of animals. PETA is, in principle, opposed to the use of animals for testing new drugs and vaccines.

Mr. Dutta told The Hindu that the decision to withdraw the order “wasn’t influenced” by pressure from animal-rights groups.