A long-awaited chlamydia vaccine trial will start in Gunnedah in September.
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The trial will be carried out by a team from the University of Sydney, which will inject koalas with a targeted vaccine designed by the University of Sunshine Coast's Professor Peter Timms.
News that the trial can finally go ahead is a relief for Sydney university's Dr Valentina Mella after it was postponed twice this year - once because of high heat and the drought, and the second time because of the COVID lock-down.
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The vaccine has been developed using samples from koalas in the Gunnedah area and will be administered to sick and well koalas to both combat and prevent the disease. They will also be tagged so they can be tracked via radio signal.
"Ideally, we're going to catch 60 koalas. That's if we can find 60 koalas because on the last trip we thought koalas diminished a lot," Dr Mella said.
"Thirty koalas will be vaccinated and 30 will be our controls."
Dr Mella said COVID-19 restrictions meant only a small team could carry out the trial at Robert Frend's property from September 8-22.
"We're having lots of meetings and talking about logistics and this time there is a lot of paperwork and risk assessments for COVID. It will be a very strange trip because we'll be wearing masks all the time," she said.
Dr Mella said the team would return to the area six months later to check on the koalas.
The vaccinated animals will be monitored over a three-year period and data compared to the koalas that were not vaccinated.
