NCBA welcomes USDA’s purchase of FMD vaccine

July 09, 2020 02:55 PM

The USDA has secured contracts to buy its first foot and mouth disease vaccine.

The agency will spend $27 million dollars on the immunization. With so many strains of the disease, USDA plans to stockpile some of the vaccines in the FMD vaccine bank, funded through the 2018 Farm Bill. Leaders say that the purchase is meant to be a sort of insurance policy for the more than 172 million head of cattle and hogs in the U.S.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association welcomes the news saying the purchase “ensures ranchers and farmers have timely access to a critical tool in the fight against foreign animal diseases, such as FMD.”

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