Producers resist stopping foot-and-mouth vaccination in 2027

The Paraguayan Association of Meat Producers and Exporters (APPEC) set out a clear position in the debate over a possible change in foot-and-mouth disease sanitary status and defended the continuity of the current vaccination-based system, considering that there are no technical, sanitary, or economic grounds that justify a modification in the short term.

In an interview with Valor Agro, its president, Marco Panciotto, highlighted that Paraguay is currently going through a solid sanitary situation, built on a system based on herd immunization. “Paraguay today has an excellent sanitary situation, in a system based on vaccination. Everything we have today is thanks to vaccination,” he said. The leader warned that any change of model would imply shifting the risks directly onto the producer. “If we are going to move from this system to another, the risks will fall first and absolutely on the producer,” he stressed, positioning the primary link as a central actor in decision-making.