Farm groups are urging state officials to continue funding development of livestock vaccines for bird flu and other foreign animal diseases like African Swine Fever and Food and Mouth Disease.
“Aside from total depopulation, which takes a toll not only on producers, but on our rural economies, vaccination remains the best way to stop the spread of those diseases,” Kelli Wicks of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association said earlier this week during a state budget hearing held online by the governor’s office.
Joel Harris is CEO and co-founder of Genvax Technologies, which is based in the Iowa State University Research Park. The start-up has received a state grant and a $250,000r state loan. “These funds are helping us invest in critical equipment, personnel, facilities,” he said, “and it’s bringing us closer to creating safe and effective vaccines that address the top disease threats to Iowa’s $35 billion livestock industry.”
A decade ago, Harris was involved in previous research that developed a vaccine for PEDv — a deadly virus that has killed millions of piglets. Harris said developing a bird flu vaccine is essential. “It’s not just poultry at risk anymore, but continues to threaten dairy and swine as well,” Harris said. “Now more than ever, strong investment in foreign animal disease preparedness, especially vaccines, needs to be a priority for the state. It’s one of the best ways to protect Iowa’s agriculture and stop these outbreaks from persisting.”
The Iowa Farm Bureau is calling for state support of research into how bird flu is transmitted to cattle. State and federal officials have confirmed cases of bird flu in 13 Iowa dairy herds.