Nebraska Defective Livestock Vaccine Attorney
Did Your Livestock Vaccine Cause Injury or Disease?
Vaccines are used to promote the health and combat diseases in livestock, but sometimes, they actually cause more harm than good. There are two major categories of livestock vaccine, and those are live products and killed products. Each of these need to be handled a different way, as live vaccines are more sensitive to light, chemicals and heat. No vaccines are guaranteed to be fully effective, but they should at least improve the health of the animal. Those vaccines that actually worsen the health of the livestock may be defective and cause farmers serious economic losses.
The vaccine you use will differ depending on what you are vaccinating your herd for. One reason you may be vaccinating your livestock is to prevent clostridial diseases. Clostridia are bacteria that grow in soil and feces. They can be resistant to antibiotics because of their spores. This condition can be fatal to cattle and can spread through open wounds or ingestion. Cattle are not the only animals at risk, but other types of livestock such as pigs and goats can be at risk as well. Botulism and leptospirosis are other types of conditions that farmers typically vaccinate against.
These diseases pose major risks for farmers, because if their livestock is infected, this can mean major profit losses. Diseases of this nature can cause animal infertility, lack of milk production, birth defects and other forms of contamination. The entire concept of vaccination is to introduce an animal's immune system to the disease that the farmer wants to prevent. These vaccines do not contain the actual disease, but an agent that resembles it. Usually, the vaccine is made from a weakened or killed version of the actual microbe. The body should then be able to "recognize" this disease and kill it when it is encountered later on. Unfortunately, vaccines can become contaminated. This means that when cattle and other types of livestock are injected with it, they can become seriously ill and even die.
Animal Vaccines That Harm Humans
Some animal vaccines can even create viruses that cause serious illnesses and even result in fatalities. This is possibly what contributed to H5N1. The vaccine that is being used on poultry may have been effective and "good" for the fowl, while dangerous for humans. Birds can still carry the virus even if they have been vaccinated, and then spread diseases to humans. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there are likely substandard vaccines being used on poultry and other livestock all over the world. Those defective products can be vaccines for a number of different conditions. This also brings up the issue of food safety. Even cows, chickens and pigs that have been vaccinated may still be carrying diseases. What does that mean for meat production? If contaminated livestock makes its way to consumers' dinner plates, then hundreds and even thousands of individuals can become affected.
If the cause of the disease is not investigated, then farmers may be left to suffer the economic losses even though the problem was a defective vaccine. Our firm is ready to investigate these types of cases, and has had much success in the past. Our extensive knowledge of the agricultural industry can serve to benefit anyone who has suffered the effects of bad vaccines. Domina Law Group has been successful in hundreds of court cases and has even won multi-million dollar judgments in over ten states. If you're ready to fight back, we're ready to listen.
At Domina Law Group, we have trial practice that's more than just talk. Contact us today!
