Following the declaration of four outbreaks of bluetongue in Castro Caldelas, Sarreaus, Fornelos de Montes and As Neves -where two animals with the disease were detected on the same farm-, the Xunta recalls that it is carrying out a preventive vaccination campaign in the established restriction areas -the provinces of Ourense and Pontevedra and the regions of Sarria, Chantada and Terra de Lemos-Quiroga, in the south of Lugo-, totally free for farmers and mandatory with the aim of guaranteeing the movement of animals when the vector-free season ends disease transmitters.
Thus, in these areas, vaccination of all bovine and ovine animals over three months of age is mandatory, this being the most effective tool for controlling the advance of the disease and its eradication. In this sense, vaccination will be an essential requirement to be able to carry out movements of animals when the period free of movement of the Culicoides mosquitoes that transmit the disease ends, foreseeably at the end of April, since At that time, the movement of animals from the restriction area may only be authorized if they come from vaccinated farms, it being necessary that animals over four months old are vaccinated, or if they are animals under that age, that they come from vaccinated mothers.
In this way, the Xunta appeals to the collaboration of the farmers in the preventive vaccination campaign that is being carried out, in which the Ministry of Rural Affairs is responsible for both the cost of the vaccines and their application. It should be noted that animal vaccination does not imply the preventive immobilization of cattle or sheep farms at all, but quite the contrary: it is the guarantee of movement without further requirements, once we enter the circulation period of the transmitting mosquito.
It should also be added that the vaccine that is being used in the campaign is a product that is also being used in other autonomous communities and countries of the European Union and that is registered and authorized by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (Aemps). , which implies that it was subjected to all the mandatory safety controls for use before authorizing its sale. According to the technical data sheet itself, the vaccine can be used during pregnancy and lactation, and no waiting time must be respected for the consumption of the products obtained from the animals.
