Proper Storage, Handling Vital For Vaccines

Vaccines are one of the best tools for protecting cattle from costly diseases.  However, they only work if properly handled and stored. Dr. Lee Jones, a professional service veterinarian with Boehringer-Ingelheim, says it’s vital to store and handle vaccines with care.

“Vaccines are biological products that contain what we call antigens," Jones noted.  "Antigens stimulate the immune system. They could be viruses, they could be bacteria, they could be parts of bacteria, parts of viruses, but they stimulate the immune system to build resistance to these organisms, so they don't cause disease. But if they're not stored and handled correctly, they will become compromised, and they will not trigger that strong immune response that we're expecting when we administer the vaccine to their animals.”

He added vaccines should always be stored in a refrigerator.

“Ideally, that's going to be between 35 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's important with these refrigerators that we monitor the temperature, because a refrigerator in a barn has wide temperature swings," Jones said.  "We need a thermometer in there to make sure that our refrigerator is working properly, that it's maintaining that temperature range of 35 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and that our vaccines aren't overheating or freezing. Either one can happen, and so these types of things can make our vaccines less effective. We don't want these vaccines to degrade during the storage process.”

He talks about handling vaccines and syringes at the chute.

“We want to transport vaccines in a rigid, solid cooler with ice packs. We want to keep a small cooler ready right there at the chute and keep our vaccines until we're ready to use them and mix them properly," Jones stressed.  "We want to make sure that we keep them cold, and we want to keep them out of the sunlight. We want to keep them from being exposed to the elements out there. Sometimes it can be hot, and sometimes it can get really, really cold. I've had vaccines freeze in the syringe because it was so cold. We want to make sure that we clean our syringes very thoroughly. We need to avoid disinfectants and soaps in syringes that we use modified lives because if there's any residue from our disinfectant, it can neutralize our modified live vaccine. If we're using killed vaccines, we want to make sure we still clean them really, really well, but we don't want to leave any kind of residue. Hot water to get rid of that oily residue left from the vaccine, thoroughly rinsed and completely devoid of any residues is ideal.”

When selecting a vaccine what do producers need?

“Beef  Quality Assurance. We want to make sure that we're using low-dose vaccines," Jones said.  "We're administering them subcutaneously. BQA just makes sure when we inject an animal with the product that we get the response we're looking for. BQA principles improve product response, and then a veterinarian who's familiar with our herd helps make those recommendations. Should I be using the kill vaccine? Should I be using a modified live vaccine? When should I be vaccinating?”

The BQA website also provides great online resources on vaccine storage and handling for producers interested in learning more.

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