Why is it time for countries to eradicate FMD, then vaccinate and conduct active surveillance for infection?
This alternative strategy has only now become available. It is certainly the wisest policy for any government to adopt. In the short run it would be more expensive than not vaccinating and simply watching for outbreaks, but surely cheaper than Europe’s current FMD disaster, both in terms of money and public opinion. In addition, surveillance technology could become cheaper and more reliable with modest investment. It is time for the international community to seriously weigh the new technological options for vaccinating and differential diagnosis versus the increased risks of not vaccinating. Despite the EU non-vaccination policy, Belgium and the Netherlands have formally asked other EU countries to consider vaccinating routinely for FMD again. They have not said how this would be coupled with monitoring for subclinical infection. (Such routine prophylaxis must be clearly distinguished from the emergency vaccination permitted and now planned in the EU to contain outbreaks. All such eme
