The debate on vaccination as a means of dealing with sheep has come back with a vengeance recently, as the epizootic continues to plague the Greek livestock industry.

Since August 20, 2024, when the disease first emerged, more than 275,000 sheep and goats have been killed, leaving behind a chain of losses for producers and consumers.

“However, the vaccination option is not scientifically sound either, nor a commercially viable solution, officials of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food tell the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency that, on the contrary, “it poses serious risks that threaten the country’s flagship export: The PDO beef, but also the entire sheep and goat industry”.

They go on to say, “No EU country has implemented smallpox vaccination. So why should Greece become the ‘guinea pig”? The answer is clear: it should not. The risk is disproportionately greater than the benefit. Vaccination would be a hasty political choice with huge costs for farmers, the economy, and the country’s international image.”

“Vaccination is not a solution; it is a trap.”

According to the same individuals, “the battle against smallpox requires composure, scientific evidence, and strategic insight. Vaccination is not a solution; it is a trap. Greece must not sacrifice its feta and its livestock industry to a dubious experiment. The only safe way is to continue the eradication strategy, with strict adherence to the measures and decisive support for producers.”

The Director of the Animal Production & Environmental Protection Laboratory of the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Georgios Arsenou,
echoes the same view.

Speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, he said, “For Europe, there is no vaccine. There are some vaccines in countries where the disease is endemic. But these have not received any approval from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). So, therefore, for Europe, these vaccines do not exist.”

He added that “none of them have been thoroughly tested through coordinated and approved experiments, as required by European legislation, to certify their safety, their reliability and their effects on animals.”

The example of Turkey is typical. The neighbouring country has been implementing vaccinations for more than 10 years, but without any results. Smallpox remains endemic, with permanent damage to its livestock industry.

Regarding biosecurity measures, Arsenou noted that these are not implemented by those directly involved with the farms and animals.

“The most important share of the responsibility lies with the breeders and specialists, because it is anthropogenic transmission from the animals and from the people who transport the animals. There is no tracking of who enters and who leaves the farms,” he said, among other things.

Direct hit to feta exports and loss of “smallpox-free country status”

Speaking to APPE-MPA, the Ministry’s officials stressed that a possible vaccination of the country’s livestock would pose an immediate risk to exports of feta, a PDO product worth €1 billion a year, to key markets. For 2024 alone, according to official figures, exports amounted to €785 million.

Serbia has already banned the import of pig and sheep products from Greece due to the epizootic. “With the vaccination, countries that do not recognize the principle of ‘regionalization’ will close the ‘door’ to Greek products,” they point out.

Our country, to date, remains in “clean country” status. Vaccination, according to the same officials, “will upset this balance, leading to severe restrictions on exports. The restoration of the ‘free’ status requires 8-10 years, a period no economy can afford.”

Apart from the questionable efficacy of a vaccine, the absence of a differentiation test (DIVA) has also been noted. This means that there is no reliable test by which to distinguish whether an animal has antibodies due to disease or due to vaccination. This means that any positive sample will result in the slaughter of an entire herd, even if the animals are vaccinated.

They also noted that the vaccine is not a substitute for eradication measures and culling, fumigation, movement restrictions, sampling, and laboratory testing remain unavoidable. “Vaccination simply adds bureaucracy and confusion without undoing the existing strategy,” they say.

Finally, to be considered effective, vaccination would have to cover at least 75% of the sheep and goat population. This means millions of doses, huge costs, and additional human resources that do not exist.