With just a simple vaccine, your flock can beat these diseases

A government veterinarian vaccinates livestock in Naivasha following an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the sub-county.

NAIROBI: Prevention is better than cure is an old adage which applies to vaccination as a disease prevention strategy. Vaccines work by boosting the immune system in a way that prepares the body fight future incursions. In fact, vaccines are mostly but inactivated forms of a disease causing micro-organism that is inoculated into the body.

This imitates a disease infection but it is a false alarm that awakens the immune system which mobilises antibodies to fight off the “false” infection in the process accumulating a bank of antibodies and integrating a memory specific to the disease into the immune system in case of a future real infection.