Active monitoring of deer herds to detect and understand chronic wasting disease began in the 1970s and has ramped-up across the country as more of it has been found. New studies document the potential zoonotic disease transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from captive deer to free-ranging white-tailed deer.
A less ‘human-centric’ perspective on Covid transmission and the need to investigate potential animal reservoirs for the disease leads researchers to understand the interaction between humans and wild and/or managed animals and the virus.
Source: Drovers, January 31, 2022. Link.
If we find that infection will endanger the life of animals, or if animals can readily spread the virus to humans, then there will be lots of motivation to also consider widespread vaccination of target animals against SARS-CoV-2. This is not the current situation, and the most impact right now will be from vaccinating people.” – Sarah Hamer, PhD, DVM – Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences