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FMD vaccine bank getting built

USDA officials have started to construct a comprehensive Food and Mouth Vaccine Bank this year with new funding from the 2018 Farm Bill.

Dr. Sarah Tomlinson with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says there are seven main types of Foot and Mouth Disease, but vaccines only work on specific subtypes and there are 60 of those.

“We have a need for millions of doses of vaccines, so we have to have manufacturers that have the capability to produce that and be able to work with them very closely.”

The agency plans to stockpile some vaccines to protect the nearly 172 million cows and pigs in the U.S. and have contracts with companies that could produce more on demand.