Department Intervention Needed to Secure Adequate Lepto Vaccine Supply – IFA

IFA Animal Health Chair TJ Maher said the news that MSD have ceased production of Leptavoid-H, a widely used vaccine used on cattle for Leptospirosis is a major concern to Irish farmers who are now left scrambling to secure an alternative lepto vaccine.

“This will create a serious issue for farmers who are due to administer a lepto vaccine to their herd in the coming months,” TJ Maher said.

“Reports from our members indicate that there are little alternatives currently available with one of the key alternative vaccines not available until September. This could mean that a lot of cattle herds will lose protection from Leptospirosis if they miss their annual booster shot,” he said.

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that often leads to reduced milk production, decreased fertility and abortions in cows. It is also a zoonotic disease meaning that humans can potentially pick up the disease from infected animals, which further increases the potential implications of this vaccine shortage.

The IFA Animal Health Chair outlined that the availability of vaccines when needed is critical for farmers in protecting and maintaining the health, welfare and productivity of our animals while reducing antibiotic usage.

“These actions are being severely hampered on farms by the failure of the Department of Agriculture to ensure there are adequate supplies of suitable products available in the marketplace,” TJ Maher said.

“Over the last number of years farmers have experienced increasing shortages of certain vaccines at critical times and here we are with the same problem yet again. Pasteurella vaccine availability have been especially problematic this year.”

“There have been several special import licences issued for alternative vaccines, but these often come too late after supplies have been depleted. The Department of Agriculture must be more proactive in identifying potential supply issues at an early stage and intervene to avoid a situation like we are facing now where farmers may not be able to protect their herd from a potentially very harmful disease,” TJ Maher said.

“These vaccines are too important to animal and human health; we cannot have situations where these vaccines become unavailable to farmers,” he concluded.