East Germany's farmers' associations do not consider nationwide vaccinations to be a blanket solution against the occurrence of animal diseases among livestock farmers. "Then there is always the question of how expensive vaccination is and how long the animals are actually kept", said Juliane Streubel, specialist for livestock farming at the Saxon State Farmers' Association (SLB), to the German Press Agency. Vaccinating laying hens against avian flu, which is still rampant on farms in eastern Germany, may make sense.
Fattening animals that are slaughtered within a very short time may be more expensive than the benefits. In addition, in vaccinated livestock, it is sometimes difficult to determine whether an animal is contaminated with actual pathogens or only has residues of killed pathogens from vaccines. This may increase the cost of testing during slaughter.
