Farmers are being urged to use the latest Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) grants to part-fund specialist vaccine fridges, after a study by MSD Animal Health found 84% of fridges were storing vaccines outside of the correct temperature range, potentially compromising vaccine efficacy.
The FETF grant offers up to 50% funding towards the cost of a medical-grade fridge.
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Proper听vaccine听storage is critical to maintain听vaccine听efficacy and safeguard animal health. When听vaccines are stored incorrectly, their effectiveness can be compromised, increasing the risk of the product not working.
Vaccine storage
A study by biopharmaceutical and technology company MSD Animal Health revealed significant issues with on-farm听vaccine听storage.
On 19 farms surveyed across the South West of England, none of the fridges monitored consistently maintained the recommended temperature range of 2-8degC.
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84% of the fridges recorded at least one reading above 8degC, with a maximum temperature of 24degC. 58% of fridges recorded temperatures at or below 0degC, with the lowest being -12degC.
In many cases, temperatures were outside the safe range long enough to negatively impact听vaccine听efficacy.
Paul Williams, technical manager for ruminants at MSD Animal Health, said: "On-farm storage is the weakest link in the vaccine cold chain. Animal health vaccines are extremely fragile, and once damaged, the effect is irreversible 鈥� you cannot tell by looking at them if they are still effective.
Grants
"If you are storing vaccines on farm, you should be checking the maximum and minimum temperatures daily. If they are outside the 2-8degC range, something needs to be done."
Mr Williams also reminded producers to avoid placing听vaccines at the back of the fridge, where they may freeze, or in the door, where temperatures fluctuate.
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He added a fridge's age, location and surrounding temperature could affect its performance and domestic fridges were designed for room-temperature environments and could not warm contents, only cool them.
"In an ideal world,听vaccines should not be stored on-farm at all 鈥� but if they are, they should be used as soon as possible and transported in a cool bag. Vaccinating a large number of animals takes time, so do not take all the听vaccine听out of the fridge at once."
