LFP 211: Livestock Farm Practice (0+1)

RING VACCINATION

• Vaccination may be used prophylactically to confer protection in anticipation of a disease; but it is never a substitute to good sanitation and hygiene on animal farms.
• A vaccine is not used as a rule in a locality, where an acute infection has already broken out, because of the period of increased susceptibility and the delay before protection is established.
• Vaccination is used to develop an immune zone all around an area of actual infection. This ring vaccination is done to all susceptible animals at a radius of 5 km from the focus of infection. This vaccination starts from the periphery and reaches the centre. This prevents the spread of disease. Also, vaccination can be used routinely on animal farms as an insurance against possible disease flare-ups.