Conservationists have warned that at least 5 lakhs sharks are likely to be slaughtered. In order to develop enough doses of an effective vaccine and immunize humankind against COVID-19.
WHY SHARKS?
Sharks are harvested for a natural oil that is being used in the Covdi-19 vaccine candidates. This natural oil is called squalene, which is currently used as an adjuvant in medicine. An ingredient that increases the effectiveness of a vaccine by creating a stronger immune response.
Around 3,000 sharks are needed to extract one tonne of squalene.
ESTIMATES MADE BY CONSERVATIONISTS ON KILLING OF SHARK
As per estimates made by conservationists, around 30 lakh sharks are killed every year. This is done so that human beings can utilize squalene in cosmetics, machine oil, and other products.
British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline, which has announced mass production of 100 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, has already been using shark squalene to make flu vaccines.
However, conservationists fear that this sudden spike in demand for mass production of vaccines. It will not just threaten the shark population, but may eventually lead to their endangerment as well. Especially considering these top predators do not reproduce in huge numbers.
“Harvesting something from a wild animal is never going to be sustainable, especially if it’s a top predator that doesn’t reproduce in huge numbers. There are so many unknowns of how big and how long this pandemic might go on, and then how many versions of it we have to go through, that if we continue using sharks, the numbers of sharks taken for this product could be really high, year after year after year,” Stefanie Brendl, founder and executive director of Shark Allies told a US-based news website.
PROTECTION OF SHARKS
To protect the shark species, scientists have been actively working on a synthetic version of squalene made from fermented sugar cane.
But with such an enormous, urgent, and ever-increasing requirement for vaccines against the novel corona-virus. It has so far infected 3.3 crore and killed 10 lakh people around the world. The number of sharks sacrificed for its production may even exceed the predicted number and continue to soar higher and higher.