The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment explained that the vaccination campaign against bluetongue in the Balearic Islands it is progressing at a “good pace” in the Balearic Islands and until this Sunday a little more than 49,500 doses to 20% of the sheep herd of the archipelago.
In this sense, the ministry emphasized that this delivery of the first vaccines was received on November 11 and that “practically 100% of them were used to combat the disease”, as it highlighted in a press release.
If we analyze it by islands, in Majorca More than 46,000 doses have been inoculated, representing 20.4% of the island’s sheep population. On the other hand, in Minorca 2,200 doses were administered, or 18.3% of the sheep census, and in Ibiza The number of doses amounts to 1,000, or 19.7% of the island’s sheep census.
On the other hand, by zone, the livestock health defense groups (ADS) which have vaccinated the most are those of the Levant region and the one that belongs to Camp Mallorquí. These two are followed by the ADS of Santa Margalida, that of the northern zone of Mallorca and the ADS ovino of Ponent.
“The pace of vaccination so far is more than satisfactory. In addition, this Tuesday you will receive a new batch of vaccinesof around 20,000 doses, and next Tuesday, December 3, an additional 100,000 will be received”, reported the Director General of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development, Fernando Fernández.
He thus wanted to send a message of “calm” to the sector, since the vaccination campaign is taking place at a “good pace” in all the islands and that “the work will continue to ensure that this is the case in the months to come” . “.
Fernández stressed that the objective of the ministry is vaccinate 85% of the sheep herd before April 2025period when the presence of the “culicoides” mosquito, responsible for infecting animals, returns.
He also recalled that the distribution of vaccines is linked to the greater or lesser prevalence of the disease in each area. In this sense, Fernández highlighted the efficiency with which ADS veterinarians work, which has allowed “maximum use of vaccines.”
However, the Director General of Agriculture and Rural Development stressed that a vaccine “is never a treatment”. “The vaccine improves the condition of the livestock where it is administered and prevents new infections, but already infected animals, although vaccinated, can develop the disease,” he argued.
Likewise, Fernández pointed out that it is known, from the previous bluetongue epidemic (2021-2023), that in the first year of the epidemic a large number of cases are concentrated but that once the vaccination campaign started, “cases are decreasing very considerably.”
For this reason, he stressed that it is important that vaccination is carried out during the period in which the mosquito is not circulating, because as its arrival approaches – April – there will already be “practically the entire flock of sheep”. ” of the Balearic Islands vaccinated.
