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Judith Stove's avatar

Interesting article, thank you. I'd only point out that very recently, claims about the efficacy of the koala vaccine have been publicly reviewed and questioned:

https://www.academicjobs.com/au/research-publication-news/koala-chlamydia-vaccine-research-flaws-at-australian-universities-or-academicjobs-21843

Saloni Dattani's avatar

Thanks for sharing this! Will review this and fix it in the piece shortly

Bleeding Edge Biology's avatar

Vaccinating wild animals sounds outlandish until you remember we already do it for rabies with baited drops. The koala chlamydia case is a good stress test, because it mixes conservation with real animal suffering. What is your position on intervention: is a managed, vaccinated wild population still wild, and does that distinction matter if the alternative is extinction?

Tyner🔸's avatar

awesome article!

Ian Slalander's avatar

Great read, thank you Michelle! I’m surprised by the cost effectiveness; I hadn’t realized the rabies vaccine relied on harvested antibodies. I wonder if this is an area where progress in creating synthetic alternatives will lower cost, similarly to promising solutions for synthetic snake antivenom.