Nova Scotia pays for COVID-19 vaccines for mink, B.C. says no before closing industry

Nova Scotia will help pay for a COVID-19 vaccine for mink, but the B.C. government says more research is needed to determine if it's an option.

Nova Scotia will help pay for a COVID-19 vaccine for mink, but the British Columbia government says more research is needed to determine if immunization is an option for thousands of animals that will soon be banned from the province.

Nova Scotia’s Agriculture Department said the vaccination program, to be launched soon at five farms until the end of December, is based on advice from veterinarian and medical experts as part of a trial offering 54,000 doses to mink farms in that province.

The province will split the cost with the federal government as part of previously announced funding for the agricultural sector, the department said in an emailed statement.

“The industry will provide in-kind work for administering the vaccine to the mink,” it said.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it granted permission to import an experimental vaccine for mink from the United States following discussions with the Public Health Agency of Canada, the provinces and the industry.

“Vaccination began in August 2021 and is restricted for emergency use under licensed veterinarian supervision,” it said in a statement.

News of the mink vaccination program comes after the Agriculture Ministry in British Columbia announced live mink would not be permitted on farms by April 2023 and its industry would be phased out two years later.

It said public health concerns are behind the plan to shut down nine farms in the Fraser Valley that currently have about 318,000 mink.