Six Factors Linked To Vaccination Success
Most producers know that even under the best production conditions, no health management program are 100 percent effective 100 percent of the time. Even when using injectable vaccines or antimicrobial program, disease breaks can happen with individual or small groups of pigs. That’s because environmental, physical and other challenges can affect the vaccination and immunological processes. These factors include:
General pig health and stress
Vaccination is most effective when pigs are in good health and not under stress from moving, commingling, weather or other stressors.
Proper vaccine handling and administration
Mistakes made during any part of the vaccine handling chain can decrease the percentage of the population that acquires protective immunity.
Sanitation
The same water proportioner, stock solution container and plumbing manifold often are used for various vaccines, sanitizers and antibiotics. Thorough flushing of all treatment components with fresh water before and after any vaccine delivery will help ensure vaccine vi-ability. Use a dedicated stock solution container for vaccinations.
Vaccination timing
Proper timing of vac-cine administration is critical to achieving the highest level of protection. Work with your veterinarian to determine when to vaccinate for each disease.
Feed medications
Eliminate vaccine- incompatible feed antimicrobials for the recom-mended time period before, during and after oral vaccines are administered.
Water treatments
Any agent with known or suspected activity against living cells should be neutralized or removed during vaccination. This includes on-farm chlorination or other water-sanitizing treatments.
Inherent within the aforementioned factors is the importance of paying attention to the little details that can impact vaccination success, which result in improved pig health, increased productivity and a greater return on investment. In fact, results of five large-scale field trials in-volving more than 120,000 pigs showed that oral vaccination against ileitis resulted in a 5-to-1 return on investment.