Needle-free vaccination systems for cattle proven effective by research

In this producer-focused podcast, Dr. Kim Ominski talks about the use of needle-free injection systems for cattle based on her research with colleagues. 

Kim Ominski is a professor at the University of Manitoba and Director of the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment. Her research focuses on strategies for improving the long term sustainability of beef cattle production systems. 

Transcript

Jordan Cieciwa: 0:00

Welcome to the Manitoba Agriculture and food Knowledge Exchange podcast. I'm your host Jordan Cieciwa, we are joined today by Dr. Kim Ominski, a researcher and the director of the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment at the University of Manitoba. She's got 20 years, more than 20 years identifying strategies to improve the productivity and sustainability of beef cattle production in Western Canada. So she was the perfect expert to bring in, to talk about needle free vaccination systems. Dr. Kim Ominski, thank you so much and welcome to the podcast.

Kim Ominski: 0:41

Thanks very much, Jordan. I appreciate the invitation to be here today.

Jordan Cieciwa: 0:43

Well, this sounds like a very fascinating topic and it is going to be producer focussed. So, I'm grateful we got somebody like yourself to speak to this. Let's jump right into it. What are needle free vaccination systems?

Kim Ominski: 1:01

Well needle free vaccination systems are very simply just a strategy for delivering vaccines. So vaccines, which all producers use to protect livestock from both bacteria and viral infections are typically administered using a needle and syringe. This technique is used because it's simple, it's inexpensive, and it can be used under a wide range of conditions summer and winter. However, the disadvantage of this system is that there's a potential for broken needles, as well as the potential for transmission of disease, from animal to animal when needles are used for multiple animals. And as a consequence of those two things, that has led to the investigation of alternative techniques. And one of these techniques is needle free injection.

Jordan Cieciwa: 1:47

Interesting. So how do needle free systems actually work?

Kim Ominski: 1:53

So as the name implies needle free injection systems don't have a needle, but instead they're triggered by mechanical compression. So when the nozzle of the system touches the animal's skin, it produces a high pressure stream that can actually penetrate the skin and it places the vaccine into the desired tissue.

Jordan Cieciwa: 2:11

And is this system new?

Kim Ominski: 2:16

Certainly there has been allot of innovations along the way, but the existing technology really started in the 1940s when it was used to vaccinate humans. More recently, as I said, the products or the systems have been... become more advanced. And they're used in several livestock species, including swine, where they have been used to deliver antibiotics, iron and vaccines.

Jordan Cieciwa: 2:39

I mean, this, this sounds like something that has a lot of advantages. What are those advantages?

Kim Ominski: 2:48

As you have suggested, there are many advantages. The first one we've already talked about and that's the elimination of broken needles in the carcass or in the meat. But these systems also supply a consistent amount of vaccine, which is desirable to elicit the appropriate immune response. And in fact, they have at least comparable and in some cases they've been shown to have enhanced immune response compared to the standard needle syringe technology. In some cases they can reduce disease transmission, as we've already talked about because you don't have the same needle that's used from one animal to animal, there's no potential to transmit disease from one to the other. And there's been some work with this specific disease called anaplasmosis to show that that's the case. And then there's also the safety of the person who's using the system. There's no potential of needle sticks to producers. And then there's no need to dispose of the needles that are used.

Jordan Cieciwa: 3:39

Now, obviously anytime there's advantages, there are disadvantages. What are some of the disadvantages with this system?

Kim Ominski: 3:46

So obviously because it's more complex, it is more costly than a simple needle and syringe. And as a consequence of that complexity, it also means that it requires some training. It requires calibration and maintenance of the system to ensure that it is delivering the desired quantity of vaccine.

Jordan Cieciwa: 4:04

Now, I've got you here on this podcast, so I've got to ask what research have we done on this subject?

Kim Ominski: 4:13

We've actually done a few trials. Primarily, we've looked at two different kinds of vaccines and they're both standard vaccines that producers beef cattle producers use on a regular basis. And that is a standard respiratory vaccine, which includes things like IBR, BVD, PI3, and BRSV, and those are common, you know, part of that common respiratory vaccine package. And the other one is a cluster deal or what most producers will call a blackleg vaccine. And as I said, both of those are commonly used to vaccinate cattle. We've also tested the system both in summer and in winter.

Jordan Cieciwa: 4:49

And in that research what did you do?

Kim Ominski: 4:53

So what we did is, we looked at following vaccination of both calves that are vaccinated with the needle free and the needle syringe system. We looked at the presence of skin reactions at the site to see if one of the systems or the other caused greater skin reactions. And the second one is we looked at the antibody response in... as a consequence of administering the vaccines using those two different types of systems.

Jordan Cieciwa: 5:19

And with all research that's out there and with professionals like yourself doing it, what were the results and what did you guys find out?

Kim Ominski: 5:27

Sure. So one of the things that we saw is that with the needle free vaccination system, sometimes you get a little bit of residue either on the hair or on the hide of the animal, so we tested the animals that had a little bit of residue and those animals, which did not, and even the animals with residue had a comparable immune response. So we know that there's effective delivery of the product with the needle free systems we saw a slight increase in the number of skin reactions at the site of the vaccination. Now that's not necessarily a negative thing because it could simply mean that it's causing a heightened immune response. And therefore there's a bit of a local response as a consequence of that. So we therefore conducted a second study and that showed us that the needle free systems, although they may have had a slightly greater incidents of skin reactions, that those skin reactions did not result in tissue damage at the time, in the carcass, at the time of processing. So from that we can conclude then that these needle free injection systems can be used effectively to vaccinate using the two types or the two different vaccines that we used. And certainly that they're applicable or can be used under western Canadian conditions.

Jordan Cieciwa: 6:39

Now, and that's, I mean, this is the great thing about this is, your research done in Manitoba? How have you been sharing these findings in this research and information with producers in Manitoba?

Kim Ominski: 6:51

We've actually been sharing it in Manitoba, at producer meetings. And one of the things that we do that producers quite enjoy, is we actually prepare gelatin in jars. And then we bring the needle free system with us. So after we give the presentation, we then allow producers to come up and try using the system by using this gel in jars to deliver the vaccine into, because obviously we don't have live animals there. Had a number of written articles some of them have appeared, one of them has appeared in Cattle Country, which is a national magazine, so that certainly stretches beyond the borders of Manitoba. And then we've done some radio interviews on it as well.

Jordan Cieciwa: 7:26

I mean, all of this stuff deserves big congratulations. Anytime we see improvements to the delivery like this it's a great day, but is this technology available right now for producers to use?

Kim Ominski: 7:43

Certainly, so the systems that we used in our research were commercially available systems. They weren't anything that we had manufactured or modified in any way. And there are a number of different companies. So if a producers are interested, they can just look up needle free vaccination systems. And there's a number of companies which sell them.

Jordan Cieciwa: 7:59

Doctor Ominsky, I'm so grateful for you coming on and sharing this information. I love hearing that researchers are out there looking at the welfare of animals and making sure that we're always looking for new ways to take care of those animals and help producers do the good work that they do. So thank you so much for coming on and sharing that.

: 8:20

Thanks, Jordan. I really appreciate the opportunity.