The poultry industry is changing extremely fast and its challenges have increased considerably over the years. For producers, efficiency, rather than a differentiating point, became a survival strategy.
Today, it is necessary to produce ‘more with less’ and in a context of a challenging environment. In addition, high diseases pressure, high stocking density in farms located in very densely populated areas, poorly qualified workers, pressure to reduce use of antibiotics and others are daily challenges faced by all involved in this industry.
Within this context, prevention of Newcastle Disease is just part of a bigger puzzle. Old solutions are not necessarily suitable for this modern industry. The use of vaccines that are able to protect against challenge but induce extensive post-vaccination reactions and consequently losses in the processing plants can be harmful in an industry that operates with narrow profit margins.
Even in countries or regions with very low ND field pressure, the circulation of mild live ND vaccines within the flocks or between flocks can be very detrimental to producers’ profitability. In this framework, the use of Vectormune® ND is also extremely beneficial to producers in low challenge areas. The replacement of the live attenuated vaccines by this vector vaccine reduces the circulation of lentogenic NDV strains among chickens with consequent improvement in their performance.
In high challenge areas, where ND outbreaks bring unacceptable losses, Vectormune® ND has proven marked superiority as compared to any conventional vaccine as it evades MDANDV, can be applied in the hatcheries (i.e. well controlled environment with well trained workers), it induces long-lasting immunity and significantly reduces the shedding. In fact, this vector vaccine has all these advantages without inducing any post-vaccination reactions.
However, even counting with a safe and efficacious vaccine as Vectormune® ND, more than ever, it is necessary to have a holistic approach on the ND situation rather than focusing only on the micro-organism and/or the vaccine efficacy. It is also necessary to take into consideration the limits of biosecurity, the urgent need of farm workers training, the legislation and, if possible, the eradication of this disease. Without such an ample approach, ND will continue to inflict enormous losses to producers for a long time to come.
Recommended vaccination program for broilers
Recommended vaccination program for layers & turkeys
