The 4PM

The U.S. vaccine drive has expanded to include a two-toed sloth and other animals at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.

THE IMAGE

The Chicago Zoological Society on Tuesday sent out a press release — with photos — announcing that veterinarians have started administering an animal-specific COVID-19 vaccine to wildlife at the zoo.

.@brookfield_zoo is beginning to give the COVID-19 vaccine to species of animals, like this two-toed sloth, "known to be more susceptible to contracting the virus." They get two doses, a few weeks apart, of a shot made specifically for animals.
(Photo & info courtesy of the zoo) pic.twitter.com/bA5ZGbFjK1

— Amanda Vinicky (@AmandaVinicky) September 7, 2021

According to the zoological society, the vaccination effort is intended to prevent SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, from passing between animals and humans.

• People have given COVID-19 to animals, but the risk of transmission going the other way is considered low, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Chicago Tribune and others seized on the story as another opportunity to pressure vaccine hesitant humans to get the shot amid a surge in the delta variant.

• Doug George, the newspaper’s art and entertainment reporter, urged readers to “take a lesson from Sandy [a bearcat at the zoo] and not put it off any longer.”