Annual Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccination Campaign in Argentina Vaccinates Over 29 Million Cattle: Senasa

The National Agri-Food Health and Quality Service (Senasa) reported that, within the framework of the second annual vaccination campaign against foot-and-mouth disease, which was carried out last year, a total of 29,456,953 cattle and bubalines were vaccinated. .

In this regard, the organization highlighted that vaccination is “one of the main strategies to maintain a stable epidemiological situation in Argentina.”

Vaccination is “one of the main strategies to maintain a stable epidemiological situation in Argentina,” says Senasa. (The voice)

As planned in the schedule and as usual in the second campaign of the year, Senasa executed the vaccination strategy for the so-called minor bovine and bubaline categories. That is, all categories except cows, bulls and oxen.

According to official data, Buenos Aires was the province where the most individuals were immunized, with a total of more than 11.8 million, followed by Santa Fe (3.6 million), Córdoba (2.8 million), Entre Ríos (2 .6 million) and Corrientes, with almost 2.4 million.

Within the “National Plan for the Eradication of Foot and Mouth Disease”, an annual campaign is carried out for all age categories, by age, and another in which cows, bulls and oxen are excepted. That is, minors are vaccinated twice a year, while adults only once.

Vaccination is “one of the main strategies to maintain a stable epidemiological situation in Argentina,” says Senasa. (The voice)

The initiative maintains, as its main strategy, the mandatory vaccination of all cattle and buffaloes in two areas, the Central-North and the Border Cordon, which the World Organization for Animal Health (WHO) recognizes as “free from foot and mouth disease with vaccination.” ”.

As reported by the health organization, the 2024 campaign began on March 11 in the central and coastal areas of the country and, as has been happening, it is carried out through more than 300 local health entities, which are made up of associations of livestock farmers, private veterinarians and other entities.

Senasa stressed that inoculation against this disease “is one of the main prevention strategies that allows maintaining a stable epidemiological situation with respect to the disease in the Argentine Republic.”

“A global example”

The Argentine veterinary laboratories producing anti-foot and mouth vaccines clarified that in Argentina there are 3 laboratories that market the vaccine against foot and mouth disease, while in the rest of the world no more than 30.

Vaccination is “one of the main strategies to maintain a stable epidemiological situation in Argentina,” says Senasa. (The voice)

They indicated that “in our country there is a national vaccination plan where the entire bovine herd is vaccinated twice a year, but with a unique feature in the region and which is an example worldwide. Vaccination is carried out under a system of producer foundations, health entities and, to a lesser extent, veterinary entities; “They buy the vaccine from the laboratories and carry out the application, ensuring in a limited time a very effective vaccine coverage, something that is very important in healthcare.”

This system is what allowed Argentina in 2003 to recover in record time the beef exports lost as a result of a very large outbreak of foot and mouth disease that originated in 2000/01.

Campaign 2024

The vaccine that is being applied today in the first campaign of 2024 “was sold by the laboratories mainly between November and January for approximately $550, with a dollar that for collection (average 40 days) was around 850 pesos (USD 0.65); a number that is very far from what is mentioned in the media and that is in no way 5 times more than other countries in the region.”

They explained that “logically, to ensure replacement in a context of high inflation, health entities and foundations invoice the vaccine at the replacement price that the laboratories announce prior to the start of the campaign. Let’s not forget that they give payment terms of between 30 and 60 days to producers and cannot make financial speculations with money because they are non-profit entities. But in no way is that the value that the laboratories receive for the vaccine that is being applied at that moment.”

They also highlighted that “historically, laboratories made price adjustments for the vaccine twice a year, and never during the development of a vaccination campaign so as not to generate a price distortion, except in 2003 when, due to high inflation, an adjustment had to be made. additional adjustment, but that was not during the campaign.”

Thus, they took into consideration that “the price that is in force today will be maintained until July 1, 2024, regardless of the inflation that occurs and the exchange rate variations that exist, even when the vaccines have imported components. This is also unique because the rest of the veterinary products have been adjusted between 5 and 8 times during 2023.”

They suggested that “these analyzes have to be done with a certain history to see the evolution of prices vs. inflation, if we take the accumulated inflation from Jan-19 to Jun-24 (Real to Feb-24 and REM from Mar to Jun) it is 3.892% when the increase in the foot-and-mouth vaccine in the same period (since the price will not change until July 1) is 3.663%. That is, a difference of 229 percentage points in favor of the vaccine which is invoiced and charged in pesos, any conversion to dollars only leads to confusion and even more so at this time of our economy.”

Finally, they clarified that “the entry of new suppliers of foot-and-mouth vaccine, both local and foreign, is something that is contemplated in current law 24,305 (program to combat foot-and-mouth disease).

All of this, which is very technical – and which is also impacted, as in any other area, by the ups and downs of the Argentine economy – “can lead one to believe that the price that the producer pays is the one that the laboratory receives at that moment, or that the vaccine has increased more than inflation or the rest of the inputs depending on the period being analyzed, when that is not true and can be contrasted with hard data like the ones I just mentioned.”

They concluded that “Argentina’s health status is what allows it today to project meat exports to high-value markets and both SENASA and the industry and health entities have played and continue to play a key role in maintaining that status.”

2024-04-07 16:42:18
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