Preventing a major outbreak like Foot and Mouth Disease is a key priority for livestock producers and cattle groups. It is why NCBA made funding a vaccine bank a priority this year.
“We’d like to see more funding,” said Allison Rivera, the group’s Executive Director of Government Affairs. “The amount of money that we’ve asked for last time and that we’re asking for again this time is based off a study out of Iowa State from our friend, Dr. Roth. And he basically breaks down the number of strains of FMD out there. And basically mentions, you know, what we might need and what would be beneficial to protect our industry from the outbreak of a foreign animal disease like FMD. So this go around, we are again asking for more of those dollars so that we can make sure that we have enough antigen and that our bank is robust.”
Rivera notes the vaccine bank is only available to U.S. producers. With cases of FMD appearing outside the U.S. recently, it is important the vaccines are available should it make its way into the U.S.
The vaccine bank was established in the 2018 Farm Bill.
