Last week South Korea announced that it was moving forward with a complete vaccination of livestock against Foot-and-Mouth disease, which has been rampant in that country. Over 25% of livestock herds have been destroyed. South Korea has been vaccinating animals with vaccines they have purchased, but needs additional doses to implement the blanket vaccination. So they have asked for assistance from the North American Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccine Bank.
"Through the vaccine bank, the United States, Canada and Mexico have the capacity to assist other countries who are dealing with an FMD outbreak with vaccine antigen to produce additional doses of vaccine," said John Clifford, Chief Veterinary Officer for USDA and one of the commissioners of the vaccine bank. "The Republic of Korea asked for our help in order to stop the spread of FMD in the country, and the three commissioners agreed to assist them."
As a contingency the bank maintains a supply of antigen should an outbreak occur in North America. A full inventory level will return by the end of the year at the latest.
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