Vaccination protects the welfare of farm animals by preventing or reducing disease, which in turn reduces the pain and suffering often associated with illness. Healthy animals are also the cornerstone of healthy food and so vaccination can help safeguard our food produced from animals.
Livestock and poultry such as chickens, turkeys, pigs and cattle are vaccinated to protect against diseases like rotavirus, E. coli, pinkeye, and infectious bronchitis. Some diseases, such as cattle plague, have been classified as eradicated mainly thanks to vaccines.
Vaccines work by stimulating an immune response in an animal without causing the disease itself. When healthy animals are vaccinated, their own immune system responds to the vaccine and can remember the infectious agent to which the animal is vaccinated.