Better Pork - December 2006

Eye On Europe

No-needle vaccination gains ground in Europe

Established in Italy and Ireland and now under trial in other countries including the Netherlands and Germany, a no-needle vaccination approach is increasingly taking over against PRRS and Aujeszky’s Disease.

It features intradermal vaccination with serum simply pressured through the skin in a single-action operation that takes about half the time of needle vaccinations and uses just one-tenth of the dose volume of intramuscular injections.

There are other advantages for this so-called IDAL Vaccinator system, introduced by veterinary medicine giant Intervet for its Porcilis Begonia and Porcilis PRRS vaccines.

Obviously, no needle results in less stress and pain for swine and also no danger of bruised meat and associated penalties at the slaughter house, nor of the even more serious risks of abscesses or broken needles in the muscle. And, of course, no needles also mean no more risk of contamination (virus transmission) from one hog to the next during injection operations.

Is the system more effective? A recent trial in Italy indicated that intradermal application could offer development of greater cell immunity through the rapid entry of vaccine antigens into the dendric cells.

Price? Stefano Gozio, from Intervet’s international marketing department, says: “Per dose, the treatment costs about the same because the amount of actual antigen actually used is similar.”

The IDAL Vaccinator itself is battery-driven with capacity, fully charged, for at least 500 doses and includes an electronic counter. Nor is effort required to pull the trigger, since the applicator automatically fires a dose into the skin when the muzzle is pushed against the animal’s hide. The applicator also automatically rinses itself between shots.

The system also offers a choice of vaccination sites compared with the usual single preferable location for a needle injection. The intradermal technique works on the hog neck, behind the ear or anywhere along the dorsal muscles, and there are other possible locations, too. BP