Controversy over Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine Prices in Argentina Sparks Debate

In the last few weeks there has been controversy in Argentina due to the supply and price of the foot and mouth disease vaccine that is applied in that country and is more expensive than in the rest of the share.

The Government’s decision to introduce the vaccine against this disease is in response to complaints from representatives about high local pricerelive what happened and what happened to that country more than 20 years ago, remembering the portal lanacion.com.ar

Currently, Two Argentinian laboratories are producing it for more than 52 million head of cattle that are vaccinated every year in Argentina. With annual sales of nearly 100 million doses, The value handled in the country is around US$2 for this productand, according to the Argentine Brangus Association, Prices in Mercosur range from $0.24 to US$0.72.

Year after year, the domestic market represents a a business of more than US$ 150 million (about US$2 billion since the vaccination plan began more than 20 years ago).

Against this situation, the Argentine company Tecnovax asked the Animal Health Service (Senasa) for permission to import from Brazil, in principle, 15 million doses at half the price. “Introduce new vaccines proven efficacy and safety supplementing demand supply and avoiding the imperfections inherent in tight supply, helping to reduce costs significantly for the livestock sector, favoring competitiveness of the sector as a whole”, they said in the company, which called the portal. (Read in WITH stock context: South America, as a region, is 99% free of foot and mouth disease)

However, the manufacturers of the quadrivalent vaccine ensured that the bivalent vaccine was used in the sector “It wasn’t that good” and, on the other hand, his claim was “the best foot and mouth in the world.”

At the same time, the Argentine Center of Agricultural Engineers (CADIA), when they participated in the discussion, pointed out that in some of the countries mentioned, a vaccine is made with the product made in laboratories in Argentina.

The rows

The controversy arose over the question why, if dual vaccines (only two types) are used against the disease in the rest of the world, In Argentina it is necessary to import cattle with tetravalent (four lines).

On the part of the laboratories that do it in Argentina, Biogenesis Bagó and the Veterinary Diagnostic Center (CDV) wanted to have the vaccine, which contains the strains O1 Campos, A24 Cruzeiro, A Argentina 2001 and C3 Indian it is more efficient rather than those fed in the rest of the sector.

“In a new epidemiological situation, the double vaccine cover against the essential serotypes. In fact, there is cross-immunity between A2001 and A24, and these are those sequences. It turns out that the A2001 strain was not easily accepted for production outside of Argentina because it was unusual. This gave the national industry an advantage which was unfortunately used to raise prices to intolerable levels for the producer. The position of the vaccine does not change,” said Diego La Torre, president of Tecnovax, quoted by lanacion.com.ar (Read more). WITH livestock context: Vaccination against foot and mouth disease prevents losses of US$15 billion in Mercosur livestock farming)

Against the approval of the introduction of the vaccine, Biogéneses announced that they decided to “make an effort to join the decline in inflation, leaving the last price increase empty, which means a 23% reduction in the value of the vaccine that will be valid until July 1, 2024, guaranteeing supply and the same quality as it has always been. ” However, the decision comes when 60% of the livestock has already been vaccinated and most of the purchases have been arranged.

CADIA said it was time reconsideration of Senasa rules. This group is the one that intervenes in the matter and is responsible for maintaining the standard of health. Based on the current epidemiological situation, it is necessary to explain scientifically what the new formulation of the vaccine should be (bi- or quadrivalent) and whether it should be homologated with those used in the countries of the region (Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil).

For his part, the president’s spokesman, Manuel Adomi, said, “the decision was made to change the dose of the foot and mouth vaccine for cattle, so that it goes from quadruple to double, benefit for 200,000 livestock producerswhich will not depend on an order from one laboratory, but from several, which will provide the vaccine and save it, with a much lower cost. “

Argentina has Free FMD status awarded by the World Organization for Animal Health (WHO) with two different zones depending on whether vaccination is applied or not: the free zone with vaccination – in the central part and the -border route – and the free zone without vaccination – which includes Patagonia and the valleys of Callingasta, in San Juan.

Foot and mouth disease would sweep the country, once again, outside all export markets, where more than 35% of the country’s meat production is expected. This could cause a drop of up to $3 billion in annual exports.