The Government announced it will allow the use of the bivalent vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease, instead of the quadrivalent one, as announced on Tuesday by presidential spokesman Javier Milei.
“The decision has been made to change the dose of the foot-and-mouth disease vaccine, so that changes from tetravalent to bivalent, a benefit for 200 thousand farmers who will no longer depend on the price of a single laboratory; but they will have access to more laboratories that will be able to offer the vaccine and it will cost much less,” she said. Manuele Adorni at his press conference.
“There are approximately 54 million livestock that receive two vaccines a year. It’s a business 110 million doses per year“the spokesperson said.
The announcement comes after complaints about the product regarding the high costs of applying quadrivalent. Those who found themselves at the crossroads were the producers, represented by the Argentine Agricultural Federation, who spoke of a “negative impact, given that added to the other health tasks, the cost per dose skyrockets up to 2,200 dollars”. Furthermore, the Argentine Rural Society had carried out a survey in the region on the costs of the vaccine.
But Argentine veterinary laboratories denied this value. As they explained, the vaccine being applied today in the first campaign of 2024 “fIt was sold by labs mostly between November and January for around $550, with one dollar the withdrawal fee (on average 40 days) was around 850 pesos ($0.65); a figure very far from what is reported by the media and which is in no way 5 times higher than that of other countries in the region”.
They also pointed out that “laboratories historically adjusted vaccine prices twice a year,” and denied that prices increased during the development of a vaccination campaign. “Except in 2003, when due to high inflation it was necessary to make a further adjustment, but that was not during the campaign,” they clarified.
Therefore, they said that the price in effect today will remain until July 1, 2024, regardless of inflation that occurs and changes in exchange rates that exist, even when vaccines have imported components. “This is also something unique because the rest of the veterinary products have been changed between 5 and 8 times during 2023,” they noted.
Likewise, they made it clear In Argentina there are 3 laboratories who market the vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease, while in the rest of the world there are no more than 30.
For his part, the president of the Rural Society, Nicola Pino, celebrated the government’s announcement. “We hope that the liberalization of imports will allow producers to pay adequate prices, putting us on a par with other competing countries, guaranteeing the health of the herds and the sanitary status,” said the ruralist.
Foot-and-mouth disease and vaccination
Foot and mouth disease is a highly contagious viral disease that hits the cattle, among other animals, and is characterized by fever and blistering of the mouth, nose, nipples, and paws. It is not transmitted to humans, but is a reason for rejection when exported to all markets in the world.
There is currently a rule in Senasa, Animal Health Service, that requires the vaccine to have a special strain, which is the A2001 that the vaccine contains in Argentina.
The vaccine is applied in Argentina in two periods of the year. One campaign runs from March to May and the second from October to December. Adult animals are vaccinated once and children twice. In this way, Argentina requires 70 million doses per year and has achieved, at least for foot-and-mouth disease, a health status recognized on all markets.
Meanwhile, the National Service for Health and Quality of Agri-Food (Senasa) reported in a statement that, as part of the second annual vaccination campaign against foot-and-mouth disease, carried out last year, a total of 29,456 were vaccinated .953 cattle and bubaline.
In this regard, the organization underlined that vaccination is “one of the main strategies to keep the epidemiological situation stable in Argentina”.
Source: Clarin
