Poultry farmers will soon receive free vaccines to help them treat Newcastle disease. The United States Department of Agriculture has donated about 560 birds to the Accra Veterinary laboratory, a subsidiary of the Veterinary Service Directorate.
Eggs produced by these birds will be used in making “LaSota strain”, a type of vaccine, to be given to poultry farmers affected by Newcastle disease without a fee.
Head of Accra Veterinary Laboratory, Dr. Theophilus Odoom explained that the vaccine is very important in curing the Newcastle disease.
“The Newcastle vaccine is produced through eggs. So, we use the eggs to produce the anatomic fluid to prepare the vaccine. This vaccine is one of the effective and potent vaccines that fights Newcastle disease,” he explained.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between the United States Department of Agriculture and the Veterinary Service Directorate to officially hand over the birds to the directorate.
Speaking to Joy Business, Deputy Director of the Veterinary Service Directorate, Dr. Darlington Owusu said, “this time they decided that they needed the support of GPP to get their parent stock, rear them to a point where they can lay eggs that are clean without infections which will be used for the vaccine.”
Meanwhile, Chief of Party for the Ghana Poultry Project, Carianne de Boer, has said that her outfit has the agricultural sector at heart, hence the decision to support the manufacture of vaccines to treat the Newcastle disease.
“I2 LaSota strain vaccines are being developed using the eggs of the chicken as basic ingredient to enable them create doses,” she said.
