«After months of intense pressure, some excellent news has arrived: the supply of vaccines against bluetongue (serotype 8) for cattle has been made available, thus allowing their movement ».
This is what Coldiretti Sardegna claims in a note . "This step represents a first and fundamental positive signal from the Region and the Department of Health, which has finally approved the act that allows the Zooprophylactic Institute to receive vaccines for serotype 8 - say Battista Cualbu and Luca Saba, respectively president and director of Coldiretti Sardegna - with this step, strongly desired and requested by Coldiretti, cattle breeders will have an essential tool at their disposal to move livestock and address the serious critical issues they have had to face up to now ".
With the intervention of the Health Department, " doses of vaccine for type 8 of blue tongue are therefore made available through the Izs to be used for movement on an exceptional basis and limited to immediate utility linked to the current epidemiological context for Blue tongue and, in any case, barring further and possible indications in this regard, no later than the month of December 2024", the Region informs.
Vaccinations must be entrusted exclusively to freelance veterinarians authorized by the Veterinary Services of the ASL competent for the territory.
The vaccine takes about 40 days to be effective and, the Region claims, "this must be taken into account when planning short-term activities."
Primary vaccination is planned for cattle with the administration of two doses at an interval of 3/4 weeks. The animals to be moved must therefore be vaccinated at least 10 days after the second dose of vaccine (about 40 days).
According to President Cualbu, moreover, «it must be underlined that the vaccines for cattle arrived very late ; it would have been different, in fact, if they had arrived in April also to allow the movement already before the summer and, therefore, in the most important period».
However, the issue of serotype 3 remains open given the lack of vaccines.
(Unioneonline/vl)