Antibiotics vs Vaccines

VACCINES VS ANTIBIOTICS VS BLOCKING

This is very very very very very very important! These words are used in-appropriately A LOT! It is very important to distinguish between a vaccine and an antibiotic so that you can effectively use these products.

VACCINE

This is used to PREVENT diseases from happening by injecting the animal with a weaker form of a disease so that the animal develops immunity, eg LumpyVax, SupaVax, MultiVax, Blanthrax etc etc. Vaccines will cover specific diseases and in some cases will work for specific disease strains eg Blue Tongue Vaccines A, B and C.

Remember that some vaccines may need to be boosted after a specified period for example annually or every 6 months or during a specific stage of production in animals life, this is usually specified on the package insert. This will ensure continued protection and immunity from the specific disease the vaccine covers.

ANTIBIOTIC

This is used to TREAT an ongoing infection eg Terramycin, Hitet, Swamycin, Maxitet, Obermycin, Reverin etc etc. This is what you will use if your cow may be coughing for example. Antibiotics may come in different forms such as injectables, oral antibiotics or even antibiotic sprays for example Terramycin Wound Spray.

So What is Blocking?

Blocking is when an antibiotic like an Oxytetracycline for example is used to block a KNOWN potential infection especially if the animal is showing early signs of disease such as high temperature. This is not the same as vaccinating! A common practice used by farmers is to inject animals with an Oxytetracycline to prevent Heartwater infection when animals are moved or are about to be moved to a new area / Heartwater area. The assumption when blocking is that the animals will get infected as soon as they arrive therefore farmers inject the animals pre-emptively, however, the immunity will not be the same as that from vaccinating with a purpose made vaccine.