Productivity in livestock is severely impacted with the presence of a few bacterial, viral and protozoan borne diseases. Timely vaccination not only prevents the risk of infection but also affects a farmer’s income through livestock rearing. Vaccination helps in maintaining better health and welfare of the livestock.
What do you mean by vaccination in livestock?
Vaccinating animals helps in stimulating an immune response without causing the disease itself. This creates early exposure to disease-causing organisms, where the animals’ immune system is able to recall the infectious agent to which the animal is vaccinated.
Why are vaccines important in livestock?
The purpose of vaccinating is to protect the herd from harmful diseases for health, economic and welfare reasons. To provide protection, the immune system must develop memory. With each vaccination and booster, the goal is to provide the protection needed by triggering the immune system to recognize the disease.
The importance of Vaccination in animals:
- Vaccination greatly reduces the need for antibiotics to treat food and companion animals.
- Vaccination helps provide for sustainable and economic stability for farmers and the communities they serve.
- They are efficient in preventing the transmission and spread of contagious animal diseases (zoonotic diseases) from animals to people and from animal to animal.
- A vaccine is a cost-effective method used in preventing animal diseases; they are generally safe, efficient and are associated with few severe side effects.
- They are good for long-term prevention because you get to avoid diseases and illness that may cost you more than what the vaccines cost.
Route of Administration of Vaccines in Animals
The most common method of vaccine administration is by SC or IM injection. This approach is excellent for relatively small numbers of animals and for diseases in which systemic immunity is important.
Spraying of vaccines enables the vaccines to be inhaled by all the animals in a herd, group, or flock—an obvious advantage when the unit is large. This method is commonly used in the poultry industry.
Alternatively, a vaccine may be administered in feed or drinking water, e.g., vaccination of poultry for Newcastle disease and avian encephalomyelitis. Drinking water vaccines are increasingly employed in large swine operations.
Different types of vaccines
- Live (attenuated) vaccines : give long immunity after a single dose
- Killed (inactivated) vaccines : need booster doses to maintain immunity
- Biosynthetic, genetically engineered vaccines: – they provide immediate but short-term protection against a disease.
An effective vaccine needs to be highly “antigenic”: it must strongly stimulate the immune system to respond rapidly in the correct way. Consult the veterinary about when the best time is and which animals you should vaccinate.
Don’t vaccinate animals, in poor health, poor body condition or stressed because the vaccine will not be effective.
Selecting the right vaccine
It is important to know which diseases animals should be vaccinated against. There are some common diseases that animals should be routinely protected against such as tetanus in horses or botulism in cattle.
In some circumstances, disease should be diagnosed by a private veterinarian who will advise whether vaccination is recommended.
Some diseases may have several strains of causal organisms and some vaccines cover several disease complexes, so it is important to buy the correct vaccine for the situation.
It is also important to check that a vaccine is registered for the stock being vaccinated (e.g. there is a three-in-one and a six-in-one vaccine registered for sheep and lambs only, as well as two similar products which are registered for goats and kids in addition to sheep and lambs).
Some vaccines registered for the same disease but manufactured by different companies have different dosage regimes and booster recommendations.
Buy only what you need
Vaccines are expensive and it is important to buy only as much as you need. Many vaccines are administered with a repeating syringe and you will need enough doses to vaccinate all animals, allow for some waste and accidents.
Many poultry vaccines come in 1000-dose lots, which are inconvenient for small-scale producers. However, keeping opened containers or reconstituted vaccines is not recommended. This practice may cause the vaccine to fail to achieve protection and it could also cause illness due to the growth of contaminants in reconstituted vaccines.
Storing vaccines
As vaccines are biological products they will slowly lose their potency, even when stored under ideal conditions. The manufacturer has determined the expiry date for each batch of vaccine and provided it is stored correctly, it will retain its full potency up to the date shown.
Each vaccine has specific storage conditions. The majority of vaccines must be stored in a refrigerator where they are kept cold but not subject to freezing and thawing. Freezing may reduce the potency of some vaccines and may cause local reactions at the injection site.
Follow label instructions
The label on the vaccine carries important information about using the vaccine correctly: dosage; injection site; recommended vaccination program; and storage instructions. Users of veterinary chemicals are required by law to follow the label instructions.
Use sterile and safe equipment
Vaccines are usually administered by a syringe and needle although some are administered in the water supply or intranasal. Many vaccines are packaged in multi-dose containers for use with automatic syringes, which must be calibrated to deliver the right dose.
Needles should be sharp and as short as possible when vaccinating subcutaneously. Long needles may break or deposit the vaccine into the muscle instead of under the skin.
Ensure that you use the right needle when vaccinating your livestock and enter the vaccine bottle with a sterile needle and never re-enter the bottle with a used needle.
Equipment can be sterilised between use in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes, or by boiling in an open pan for 40 minutes. Chemicals, such as disinfectants or methylated spirits, should not be used as they may make the vaccine ineffective. After syringes and needles have been sterilised they should be kept in a covered container to protect them from dust.
Administering vaccines
In general, vaccines take 10-14 days to give protection. To get the most out of your vaccines protect them from heat or sunlight by keeping them in an Esky until required. Keep vaccines and equipment away from dirt and dust, which can contaminate equipment and introduce infection.
Do not mix different vaccines together. Combined vaccines require a great deal of care in balancing the components. However, if more than one vaccine is required use separate syringes and administer them at different sites, at least 15 cm apart and preferably on different sides of the animal’s body.
When vaccinating a herd, ensure a full dose of vaccine is given to every animal. Check syringes carefully to ensure that the correct dose is being delivered. Give the required booster injection at the correct time to all animals that require it.
Keep people safe
Some animal vaccines can cause a serious reaction if accidently injected into people. Therefore, the person administering the vaccine should concentrate on the safe use of the syringe and needle and not attempt other tasks such as moving or restraining the animal.
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