On this episode of The Turkey Talk Show, Sheila and Gretta are joined by two representatives from Zoetis, joining us to discuss the work they are doing to get the aMPV vaccine into the hands of farmers. As this vaccine becomes more available to the public, we review key strategies, best practices, and proper techniques to effectively vaccinate your birds.
On this episode of The Turkey Talk Show, Sheila and Gretta are joined by two representatives from Zoetis, joining us to discuss the work they are doing to get the aMPV vaccine into the hands of farmers. As this vaccine becomes more available to the public, we review key strategies, best practices, and proper techniques to effectively vaccinate your birds.
Dr. Olivia Wedegaertner, the Turkey Account Manager for the United States and Dr. Eric Shepherd, a Senior Tech Services Veterinarian, with Zoetis.
Dr. Wedegaertner discusses the work Zoetis is doing to get the aMPV vaccine in the hands of farmers. There is a lot of paperwork an regulations to be done correctly with the USDA. Zoetis has already gotten the vaccine to all commercial hatcheries in the US, and they are currently working on rolling out booster doses which is where everyone has to be patient and wait for all the paperwork to go through, as the USDA is still watching closely at every farm it goes to. Zoetis has accomplished distributing the vaccine to a portion of the population and to other companies, but they have also approved for BVS and VSI to be a seller of this vaccine.
Dr. Shepherd discusses the ins-and-outs of applying the vaccine and the proper procedures to preparing to vaccinate. For the vaccine to take full affect, a course droplet size, spray is most effective. This is such a drastic learning curve in the turkey industry because before this virus the most common application was through the water lines. The aMPV vaccine needs to be sprayed at their faces because this virus affect their upper respiratory tract, where there eyes and nose are. When preparing to vaccinate, watch your flock closely and make sure not to vaccinate if the birds are sick. The vaccine won't be as affective if their immune system is already weakened. You also want to limit stress on the birds, by vaccinating during the morning to late evening, not during the hottest time of the day. The lights should also be dimmed and fans turned off. You also will also continue doing your daily routines to keep other diseases, to limit the ability of secondary pathogens to affect the birds. This will contain their reaction to the vaccine, allow them to get over it faster, and build anti-bodies quicker.
So far, no issues have been observed with vaccinating for aMPV or other diseases commonly targeted by vaccines in the turkey industry, with the exception of HE. HE is an immunosuppressive disease, so it is recommended to avoid administering the aMPV vaccine within a week before or after the HE vaccine.
From Dr. Wedegaertner and Dr. Shepherd's experience of seeing this vaccine distributed throughout the country, the spraying techniques and recommendations are all the same, but they are using different Types and giving booster shots at different times because Type A vs. Type B is more prevalent in different parts of the country.
We talked about the equipment and supplies needed to vaccinate. You should have a dedicated vaccine sprayer and thoroughly clean it out before and after so their is no cross contamination or chance you can kill your vaccine. To mix your vaccine use distilled water, a vaccine stabilizer, and a coloring product so you can tell if you are hitting all the birds. It is best to have 2 people when vaccinating to move the birds around properly or if you have a larger barn have multiple applicators. We also discuss what to do with leftover vaccine.
We round out our discussion with Dr. Wedegaertner and Dr. Shepherd stressing the patience needed from everyone to get all of the paperwork and proper channels passed, as Zoetis is working very hard to get this vaccine into the hands of our farmers. Also a reminder that this vaccine is not a silver bullet. It is still important to do your routine biosecurity and disease prevention practices well, to do everything you can to control the secondary pathogens, and that is why aMPV has been a problem.
Call to Action: