In general no vaccination can prevent mycoplasma infection, whether one-dose or two-dose . The vaccination acts by reducing morbidity and thus the economic impact of infection by strengthening the body's own defence mechanisms.
New research reports that a relevant infection - i.e. an infection that results in the animals becoming ill - can only occur after nine weeks of age (at the end of the flatdeck period). In the first few weeks of life the piglets are usually protected by maternal antibodies, therefore vaccination is not necessary in the first week of life. If piglets with a high maternal antibody level are vaccinated at a young age, they can even produce fewer antibodies to the vaccine as the vaccine antigen neutralizes the maternal antibodies, resulting in reduced effectiveness of the vaccination.
After vaccination, piglets need approximately three weeks for effective vaccine protection to develop. Therefore, the optimum time of vaccination is around four weeks of age. At this age few maternal antibodies remain, therefore the piglets can respond strongly to the vaccine. |
