Farm Experience: Nasal Spray - Veterinary Week Day 4

With every new addition to the farm comes another round of the first calf protocol, and as such we give every new heifer calf two types of nasal sprays. One is nasalgen and the other is called once PMH. In the past, we have gotten these vaccines as a combination but for now we have been purchasing them as two separate treatments. When they arrive at the farm these vaccines are in small glass jars with a liquid and a powder set. The nasalgen comes with a clear liquid while the once PMH comes with a blue liquid. Prior to administering the vaccines to our calves we have to mix the liquid with the correct powder (nasalgen has clear liquid and a powder jar while once PMH has blue liquid and a powder jar) and then dispense the solution directly into the nasal cavity of our calves. These jars are really small, each nasal spray is roughly between 2 and 3 milliliters of solution each.

So, why does this vaccine come unmixed? That is because both the nasalgen and the once PMH are attenuated live vaccines. Vaccinations come in several different flavors, one of these being attenuated live. An attenuated live vaccine is a type of vaccination that will weaken the virus in some way (functionality, severity of infection, etc) so that this vaccine can provide the immune system with a weaker version of the virus of prepare antibody and remember the infection incase of future exposure. The powder is actually the attenuated virus and the liquid portion is used to rehydrate the virus. These vaccines should be used immediately upon mixing for best results and to preserve the virus the sealed jars are kept inside a refrigerator. This is one of the few vaccines we have at our farm that we need to keep cool, J-VAC is another example. In the pictures below you can see the heifer calf that I gave nasal spray, and it seems that some of it ran down and into her mouth which she did not like... what a silly face!