CHIMPANZEES | VACCINATION | COVID-19

In honour of this year’s World Chimpanzee Day celebrated on July 14, the Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust - a non-governmental organisation that manages Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary on Lake Victoria - tested all the 52 chimpanzees which are kept at the facility.

The COVID-19 tests, which were conducted in partnership with the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), were part of the routine annual health examination of the chimpanzees, which involved full physical examinations, dental checks and a clinical examination.

Dr Joshua Rukundo, the Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust executive director, said chimpanzees share 98.7%  DNA with humans and as such, are prone to the same diseases that affect humans.

Dr James Musinguzi, the executive director of Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (UWEC), who also doubles as the board chairperson of Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary, said the management is exploring all avenues of vaccinating captive chimpanzees. 

“Together with Dr Gladys  Kalema of conservation through public health and Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary, we are trying to get a vaccine called  Zoetis to vaccinate all our chimps. However, we shall first do trials on the monkeys that we have and observe how they react,” Dr Musinguzi said.

He made the remarks on Wednesday while launching celebrations in memory of Zakayo’s birthday, which ran for a week.

Zakayo, whose name is synonymous with chimpanzees, was the known oldest chimpanzee under captivity prior to its death in April 2018.

Dr Musinguzi said UWEC is using Zakayo’s birthday to highlight the plight of the remaining chimpanzees which are gradually losing their habitats to human activities.

Dr Kalema said Zoetis, the largest global health company,  expressed interest in providing free vaccines for the primates, notably chimpanzees and some cats in Uganda. 

“The vaccine has been used in zoos across the US and whereas it is still under clinical trials, we are hopeful about its effectiveness,” she said, adding that the batch to Uganda will be the last donation by Zoetis before it embarks on selling the drug.

Apart from the 21 chimpanzees at UWEC, Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary hopes to vaccinate between 35 and 40 chimpanzees at the island. Dr Rukundo said emphasis will be put on vaccinating chimps that are 10 years and above, leaving out the young ones.

He, however, said a decision to import and later use the said vaccine is pending clearance from the health ministry and the National Drug  Authority.