The third stage of the vaccination campaign against Classical Swine Fever (PSC) began on 28 November in the state of Alagoas.
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The expectation is to immunize around 130 thousand pigs, in about seven thousand properties, until December 31st.
The initiative is part of the pilot project to implement the Strategic Plan Brazil Free of Classical Swine Fever (PSC) in Alagoas, launched in 2021 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) together with the Agricultural Defense and Inspection Agency of Alagoas (Adeal) and the sectors of the private sector.
Resources for carrying out the vaccination come from a public-private partnership and investments amount to approximately R$ 6 million. The doses that will be used in this vaccination stage were purchased by Mapa, and distributed in partnership with Adeal.
“Even going through a challenging time for pig farming, with rising production costs and the troubled world economy, the sector has been systematically investing in the eradication of PSC in Brazil”, says the director of the Department of Animal Health, Geraldo Moraes.
Vaccination will be free to the pig producer. The vaccines will be stored at partner agricultural resellers and the application will be carried out by vaccinators hired by the private sector.
Vaccination against PSC in Alagoas is the beginning of a larger action with the objective of eradicating the disease in the states that make up the Non-Free Zone of Brazil, as provided for in the PSC Free Brazil Strategic Plan, where responsibilities are shared between the sector public and private.
“Mapa has also invested in hiring a technical consultancy to help assess the best strategies for expanding vaccination to other FUs in the northeast, considering the productive and socio-economic scenario of the region and in the acquisition of vaccines against the disease”, emphasizes Moraes .
PSC, also known as swine fever or swine cholera, is a highly contagious viral disease that only affects domestic and wild pigs and is not transmissible to humans. The main clinical signs in pigs are high fever, reddish lesions on the skin, conjunctivitis, lack of appetite, weakness, diarrhea and abortion.
In addition to Alagoas, ten other states are part of the disease-free zone: Amapá, Amazonas, Ceará, Maranhão, Pará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte and Roraima.
Brazil's PSC-free zones are recognized by the World Organization for Animal Health (WHOA) and vaccination is prohibited.
The free zone concentrates more than 95% of the entire Brazilian pork industry. All Brazilian pork exports and their products come from the free zone, which includes 15 Brazilian states and the Federal District (RS, SC, PR, MG, SP, MS, MT, GO, DF, RJ, ES, BA, SE , TO, RO and AC) and has not recorded occurrence of CSF disease since January 1998.
The boundaries between the PSC-free and non-CSF-free zones are protected by natural barriers and inspection posts, where surveillance and risk mitigation procedures to prevent the introduction of the disease are continuously adopted.
Recently, Mexico, which is one of the main destinations for global pork exports, opened up a market for Brazilian pork, as well as other demanding markets such as the USA, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Chile.
Pork from Brazil is internationally recognized for its high quality, safety and competitiveness.
In addition to quality and competitiveness standards, strengthening the sanitary condition of pig farming and the certification capacity of veterinary services are fundamental for maintaining and opening markets for Brazilian pork. ■
On 26 January, the Swedish Government decided to extend the previously-adopted entry restrictions requiring all travellers from China to be able to present a negative test result for ongoing COVID-19 infection upon arrival in Sweden, regardless of their vaccination status.