Uruguay joins the regional foot and mouth disease vaccine bank as a full member

Uruguay's Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP), through its General Directorate of Livestock Services (DGSG), signed its permanent membership agreement with the Regional Bank of Antigens and Vaccines against foot and mouth Disease (BANVACO) at a ceremony held at the DGSG headquarters in Montevideo. This regional mechanism allows member countries timely access to vaccines in the event of a foot and mouth disease outbreak and aims to strengthen Uruguay's capacity to respond to such an emergency and protect the country's sanitary status and markets. Uruguay is the fourth country to join the bank, along with Brazil, Ecuador, and Paraguay.

The agreement was signed by the Director General of Livestock Services, Dr. Marcelo Rodríguez; the Director of PANAFTOSA, Dr. Manuel Sánchez; and the PAHO Representative in Uruguay, Dr. Caroline Chang. Rodríguez emphasized the need to put foot and mouth disease back on the agenda and to strengthen the country's preparedness and training for potential health scenarios, and underscored the strategic value of Uruguay's inclusion in the vaccine bank. Sánchez noted that the mechanism goes beyond vaccine availability and constitutes a solidarity project among countries, while Chang highlighted that the process has strengthened cooperation between countries and generated synergies that are reflected in the capacity to respond to emergencies.

BANVACO is a regional cooperation mechanism coordinated by the Pan American Center for Foot and Mouth Disease and Veterinary Public Health (PANAFTOSA/PAHO), and it operates through antigen reserves that allow the production of emergency vaccines.

The signing took place within the framework of the workshop "Protection of Sanitary Status and Markets: Foot and Mouth Disease Scenarios," organized by the DGSG, the National Meat Institute (INAC), and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), with the participation of PANAFTOSA and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). Over two days, representatives from the public sector, producers, industry, veterinarians, academia, and international organizations worked on different scenarios of threat and introduction of foot and mouth disease, including a tabletop exercise to analyze decision-making in an emergency, coordination among stakeholders, the consequences for markets, and the tools available to maintain or regain sanitary status.

According to the MGAP, Uruguay's experience demonstrates that preparation prior to a sanitary emergency is as important as the capacity to respond, and that permanent incorporation into BANVACO is part of that preparedness strategy.