Vaccination programs prevent infectious diseases that cause significant pain and suffering in farm animals. Understanding vaccination as a welfare tool — not just a production tool — reframes its priority.
Livestock vaccination is a welfare intervention that is framed almost entirely in production terms — reducing mortality and morbidity improves yields — but its welfare significance extends far beyond economics. Diseases prevented by vaccination cause genuine suffering: BRD causes painful pneumonia that makes breathing difficult; FMD causes excruciating lameness from foot and mouth lesions; Newcastle disease causes neurological distress and rapid deterioration. Framing vaccination as a welfare priority — not just a production tool — changes the calculus for farmers who might otherwise decline due to cost: vaccines that prevent suffering have intrinsic value beyond their effect on production outcomes. Supporting veterinary extension programs that communicate the welfare case for vaccination, alongside the economic case, reaches farmers who might otherwise not prioritise this intervention.