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
Vietnam approves commercial use of first African swine fever vaccines
U.S. Agriculture Secretary says farmers may purchase as precaution despite no domestic cases
There are many ways of dealing with a product shortage
Vaccine shortages happen, but there are usually alternatives for dealing with the situation
Reading Time: 3 minutes The shortage of scour vaccine illustrates how the cattle industry can respond to issues that are bound to happen in a world with manufacturing failures, transportation issues and problems that can plague biological products. There are three pharmaceutical manufacturers of scour vaccines, so when one is rumoured to run out, veterinarians search the others. Many […] Read more
The cattle sector benefits enormously from a wide array of vaccines
There is a large number of vaccines for cattle — here’s a primer on key ones and their use
Reading Time: 3 minutes Healthy cattle production relies on good vaccination strategies. The general public is now hearing about efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, two doses of vaccine, storage and the logistics of transport. We are now hearing about supply issues. With a single-dose vaccine of 66 per cent efficacy, is that worse or better that needing two doses to […] Read more
The pandemic taught us many lessons in the animal health field
The supply chain stayed strong and co-operation made it stronger, and that’s very important
Reading Time: 3 minutes The direct contact between veterinarians and producers and pharmaceutical reps and technical services veterinarians has begun to open up again. Each pharmaceutical company had different restrictions on travel and rules on in-person contact and, of course, are fully abiding by the local health rules of the different provinces. The good news is that during the […] Read more
Beef 911: Our thinking about vaccinations is evolving for the better
Reading Time: 4 minutes We want to get the best bang for our vaccine buck, and research is looking for ways to do that This article will focus on some recent work on vaccination by Dr. Nathan Erickson and others at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. They basically had different calf groups vaccinated with different respiratory virus products […] Read more
In the fast-evolving field of vaccines, Prairie lab is at the cutting edge
VIDO is known for its work in animal health, but it’s developing a COVID-19 vaccine and a production facility
Reading Time: 3 minutes At a time when the entire world has never been more focused on vaccine development, one of Canada’s leading researchers in the field had some positive words on the subject for delegates to the 2021 Banff Pork Seminar. In his presentation, Volker Gerdts pointed to the mRNA technology used to develop the first two COVID-19 […] Read more
The interconnections between species are deep and interwoven
COVID-19 has put bats into the spotlight, and research shows how deeply everything is connected
Reading Time: 3 minutes In the last column I introduced the concept of systems change for the benefit of human and animal health. Fortunately, there is an avenue to work with human and animal doctors, scientists and experts towards a healthy world and it is called One Health. One Health is defined as a “collaborative, multi-sectoral and transdisciplinary approach […] Read more
The vaccine supply is more fragile than you might think
Beef 911: Supplies can run short for many reasons, so you need to be prepared for that possibility
Reading Time: 3 minutes A lot of disease prevention and maintaining productivity relies on vaccination, and we often don’t realize how much we rely on these vaccines until there is a shortage. With there only being a few large pharmaceutical companies, there may be few alternatives to turn to. With regulatory control being very strict and changes slow to […] Read more
The number of horses infected with West Nile jumps in Alberta
The number of cases nationally more than doubled last year, with more than half in Alberta
Reading Time: 3 minutes West Nile virus is becoming a more serious issue in horses — rates are rising in Alberta and a third of the horses which become infected will die. But there is a way to protect your horses, said veterinarian Melissa Smith of West Wind Veterinary Hospital in Sherwood Park. “There are vaccines available for West […] Read more
Preconditioning is good for the entire cattle industry
Beef 911: There are a multitude of benefits but producers need to be compensated for the extra work and risk
Reading Time: 4 minutes Older producers may remember a preconditioning program implemented by the provincial Agriculture Department in the 1980s. There were criteria for procedures and shots, while veterinarians certified that procedures such as dehorning and castrating were done properly and correct pre-immunization shots were given properly. Two categories of calves (either pre-immunized or pre-immunized and weaned a specific […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
