Our nation's hog producers will likely see H1N1 vaccines available for their herds by the end of this year. But, according to USDA's John Clifford whether producers will need to vaccinate for the novel H1N1 virus will be directly dependent upon the severity that we see in the human population and whether we start seeing cases in the swine population.
News of the H1N1 virus showing up for the first time in hogs in the U.S. came at the Minnesota State fair where six pigs tested positive for H1N1. Then last week, the virus was found in a pig herd in Indiana. That news convinced at least one major hog company, Cargill, to vaccinate its animals. Cargill spokesman Mark Klein said the company plans to inoculate its entire sow herd, about 120,000 pigs.
Klein said the sows will pass on their H1N1 immunity to their piglets. USDA hopes the vaccine will prevent the human strain from gaining a foothold in the hog population and possibly changing into something new.
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