The state of virginia will validate and further develop existing capabilities in large animal foreign animal disease (FAD) preparedness, response, and recovery areas to include planning, training, and…

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will receive $132,432 under a Cooperative Agreement award from the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The award is part of the USDA's Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care federal grant program (CFDA 10.025), which aims to protect U.S. agriculture from economically injurious plant and animal diseases and pests.

Under the two-year award beginning in April 2023, Virginia will validate and further develop its capabilities in large animal foreign animal disease preparedness, response, and recovery related to vaccination planning, training and exercises. This includes developing, validating and exercising Virginia's vaccination plan for a potential large animal foreign animal disease outbreak, and engaging key stakeholders such as cattle, swine and small ruminant producers. Evaluation will focus on vaccination policies, plans and operational procedures. The training and exercise program design will incorporate lessons learned from prior preparedness initiatives.

The state of virginia will validate and further develop existing capabilities in large animal foreign animal disease (FAD) preparedness, response, and recovery areas to include planning, training, and exercises. This project is focused on vaccination in response to a FAD detection. Virginia does not have a vaccination plan that is current, validated, and exercised, making this a critical need for our state. In developing, validating, and exercising our vaccination plan, we will engage key stakeholders, including the virginia cattle, swine and small ruminant producers and relevant industry groups. Evaluation of the training and exercise program will focus on the policies, plans, and operational procedures associated with vaccination for a large animal FAD outbreak in north america. The design and conduct of the training and exercise program will be based on a portion of the 23 veterinary services critical activities identified in the USDA document FAD response ready reference guide-critical activities and tools during a FAD response: information management, logistics, and vaccination. This project will build on lessons learned from the foreign animal disease southern agriculture functional exercise (FADSAFE) exercise.