Test tubes labelled “Bird Flu” and eggs are seen in this picture illustration, January 14, 2023.
 Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File

Two dozen companies working to find bird flu vaccine for cows, US agriculture secretary says

Reuters – Twenty-four companies are working to develop an avian flu vaccine for cattle, as the virus spreads among U.S. dairy herds, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told Reuters on Wednesday. Bird flu has infected 90 dairy herds across 12 states since late March, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Three dairy farm workers […] Read more



File photo of a case of lumpy skin disease in Bangladesh. (Md Babul Hosen/iStock/Getty Images)

Australia buys vaccines for lumpy skin disease to safeguard cattle exports

Recent scares halted some live export trade

Canberra | Reuters — The Australian government said on Wednesday it had bought a supply of vaccines for lumpy skin disease (LSD), a highly infectious condition affecting cattle, as part of efforts to control the disease and maintain live animal exports. The government says Australia is free of LSD but infection scares in recent months […] Read more

The beef industry is determining how surveillance for foot-and-mouth disease will work in community pastures that are shared by cattle from several producers.

Veterinarian shortage complicates FMD plans

Producers worry about how country’s shortage of veterinarians will affect surveillance against foot-and-mouth disease

Glacier FarmMedia – The shortage of veterinarians is a problem Canadian beef industry and government officials must tackle as they develop a contingency plan in case of a foot-and-mouth outbreak, said an expert. “We know that’s the reality, so we have to work with that reality,” said senior director Bob Burden of Serecon, a consulting […] Read more

pigs

Three-in-one swine vaccine hard to make

The manufacturers of a trivalent vaccine aimed at the hog sector faced a number of challenges

Glacier FarmMedia – Multiple studies examining the ability of Merck Animal Health’s Circumvent CML vaccine to control porcine circovirus, mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and lawsonia intracellularis in hogs were required to prove the new combination works and is safe. It might sound easy to take three vaccines, mix them up and stick them in a bottle. It’s […] Read more


(Songqiuju/iStock/Getty Images)

Vietnam approves commercial use of first African swine fever vaccines

U.S. Agriculture Secretary says farmers may purchase as precaution despite no domestic cases

Hanoi | Reuters – Vietnam has approved the domestic commercial use of two home-grown vaccines against African swine fever, the government said on Monday, making them the world’s first commercial vaccines against the deadly disease. The vaccines include NAVET-ASFVAC, co-developed by Navetco Central Veterinary Medicine and scientists from the United States, and AVAC ASF LIVE […] Read more

Just as in people, animal vaccines are tested for safety and effectiveness in clinical trials.

Comment: Beware misinformation on livestock mRNA vaccines

Vaccines using mRNA can protect farm animals — and there are safeguards to keep them out of food

Effective vaccines for COVID-19 should have heralded the benefits of mRNA vaccines, but fear and misinformation about their supposed dangers circulated at the same time. These misconceptions have recently spilled into worries about whether their use in agricultural animals could expose people to components of the vaccine within meat or milk. In fact, a number […] Read more