Updated Covid vaccines roll out 

The first updated COVID-19 and flu shots are making their way through the province, Manitoba Health announced Oct. 6.  The first shipments are bound for high-priority locations such as personal care homes and hospitals, the department said.  The vaccines are expected to trickle out to the general public in coming weeks, although the province warned

File photo of a case of lumpy skin disease in Bangladesh. (Md Babul Hosen/iStock/Getty Images)

Australia buys vaccines for lumpy skin disease to safeguard cattle exports

Recent scares halted some live export trade

Canberra | Reuters — The Australian government said on Wednesday it had bought a supply of vaccines for lumpy skin disease (LSD), a highly infectious condition affecting cattle, as part of efforts to control the disease and maintain live animal exports. The government says Australia is free of LSD but infection scares in recent months


(Songqiuju/iStock/Getty Images)

Vietnam approves commercial use of first African swine fever vaccines

U.S. Agriculture Secretary says farmers may purchase as precaution despite no domestic cases

Hanoi | Reuters – Vietnam has approved the domestic commercial use of two home-grown vaccines against African swine fever, the government said on Monday, making them the world’s first commercial vaccines against the deadly disease. The vaccines include NAVET-ASFVAC, co-developed by Navetco Central Veterinary Medicine and scientists from the United States, and AVAC ASF LIVE

BCRC board member Melissa Atchison represents the beef sector at the 2023 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

New vaccine tools launched for cattle

Clear guidelines and infographics aim to streamline vaccination management

Cattle farmers have a new set of tools to help manage vaccination programs for their herds, courtesy of the Beef Cattle Research Council. “Vaccine schedules can be so overwhelming, and knowing when to use modified live or killed vaccines and the schedule for boosting them can be so overwhelming,” said BCRC member and Manitoba cattle


Limiting the use of mRNA vaccines would mean losing a new way to protect animals from pathogens that current vaccines can’t fend off.

Comment: Beware misinformation on livestock mRNA vaccines

Vaccines using mRNA can protect farm animals — and there are safeguards to keep them out of food

Effective vaccines for COVID-19 should have heralded the benefits of mRNA vaccines, but fear and misinformation about their supposed dangers circulated at the same time. These misconceptions have recently spilled into worries about whether their use in agricultural animals could expose people to components of the vaccine within meat or milk. In fact, a number

Avian influenza losses are causing a reconsideration of vaccinations for flocks.

Bird flu alarm drives world towards once-shunned vaccines

It is a balance between preventing trade upset and limiting economic losses

Reuters – French duck farmer Herve Dupouy has culled his flock four times since 2015 to stop the spread of bird flu but as a wave of deadly outbreaks nears his farm once again, he says it’s time to accept a solution once considered taboo: vaccination. “The goal is that our animals don’t fall ill


The Maple Leaf plant in Brandon, Man.

Maple Leaf to require Covid vaccine for entry by March

The mandate extends to barns Maple Leaf owns and operates

Maple Leaf will require all employees, contractors and suppliers to prove they are vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter its facilities after March 31, 2022. “We continue to make the safety of our team members our priority,” said Kristie Syndikus, vice president of procurement, in a letter sent to suppliers and contractors Dec. 13. In the

Editor’s Take: On vaccine efficacy

Editor’s Take: On vaccine efficacy

One of the key metrics that crop protection products are evaluated on is one known as ‘efficacy.’ You’re quite right if you think that’s a $5 word for ‘effectiveness.’ Whether or not a crop protection product does what it says it will do is a critical part of its evaluation by federal regulators. If it


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Tyson Foods says 5,400 employees take COVID-19 shots after vaccine mandate

Company expects to lose some employees, citing mixed reaction

About 5,400 Tyson Foods Inc. employees have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or received their first shots since the meat processor ordered its entire U.S. workforce to be vaccinated by November, the company said.  Major U.S. companies are changing policies on vaccinations and masking as the Delta variant of the coronavirus drives a resurgence of

Our thinking about vaccinations is evolving for the better

Our thinking about vaccinations is evolving for the better

Beef 911: We want the best bang for our vaccine buck, and research is looking for ways to do that

This article will focus on some recent work on vaccination by Dr. Nathan Erickson and others at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. They basically had different calf groups vaccinated with different respiratory virus products in different ways, and measured the results. They solidified some knowledge we have about how we vaccinate our calves, but