Brazil Relaxes FMD Vaccination Programme, to Allow Producers to Focus on Drought
BRAZIL - Brazil has agreed to relax the second stage of foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccinations for cattle and buffalo in the Northeastern states due to drought.
2 November 2012
1 minute read
The Ministry of Agriculture has said this will not affect the states FMD status.
Due to historical drought ravaging the Northeast region, the Ministry has relaxed the timing of the vaccination against FMD for states in a state of emergency. These states have an additional 30 days to carry out the vaccination.
Plinio Lopes, from the Ministry of Agriculture said this measure was been taken to protect the cattle herd.
"The vaccine does not generate risk to the animal. The issue is that the animals affected by the drought are debilitated and handling them for vaccination may result in more losses, on top of those that have already being lost due to the ongoingo drought. Additionally, immunisation may not be complete with the animal weakened by drought."
He said that the region is at no risk of an outbreak, highlighting that the last occurrence of FMD in the region was 10 years ago.
"On top of this, the last vaccination programme was carried out in June, meaning that the herd is still immune for some time."
TheCattleSite News Desk
