New Delhi (NVI): The conservationists of a shark support group warned that at least 5 lakh sharks are likely to be slaughtered in order to develop enough doses of an effective vaccine against COVID-19.
Sharks are harvested for a natural oil that is presented in their lever being used in the COVID-19 vaccine candidates. This natural oil is called squalene, which is currently used as an adjuvant in medicine, which makes the vaccine more efficient by strengthening its immune response.
However, it comes at the price of mass-murder, in order to obtain one tonne of squalene, approximately 3,000 sharks need to be killed.
Shark Allies, a California-based conservation group, has warned that in order to create one dose of COVID-19 vaccine each for every single person on the planet, about 2.5 lakh sharks will have to be killed for their liver oil, according to the reports.
According to the non-profit organization, if two doses are required per person, then the number of sharks would double to 5 lakh. Squalene is also found in livers of many other animals, sharks remain the major commercial source for this natural organic compound.
As per the estimates made by conservationists, around 30 lakh sharks are killed every year so that human beings can utilise squalene in cosmetics, machine oil, and other products.
There are fears that sudden spike in demand for mass production of vaccines 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.
Meanwhile, the group has created an online petition to urge companies to use non-animal options. Shark Allies suggests using alternatives such as sugarcane, olive oil, yeast or bacteria.
A British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline, has also announced mass production of 100 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, who are already using shark squalene to make flu vaccines.
The species like the gulper shark and the basking shark, which are rich in this oil, are already vulnerable, and if targeted further, they could be under some serious threat.
Furthermore, in order 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 coronavirus, the number of sharks sacrificed for its production may even exceed the predicted number and continue to soar higher.
-RJV
