MSD Animal Health has launched a new campaign against equine flu, which includes various materials to help practices spread the word about the importance of vaccination.

Apparently, there were over 100 times more recorded outbreaks of equine flu across the UK in 2019 than the year before¹, and numerous equestrian events were cancelled as a result. 

The company says that despite this, as of 2019, only about half of all UK horses are vaccinated². 

Blaise Scott-Morris MRCVS, Equine Marketing and Technical Manager at MSD Animal Health said: "Last year’s outbreaks of equine flu rocked the equine world, raising important animal welfare issues and costing the racing industry millions.

"Furthermore, they highlighted the need for good preventative healthcare and, in particular, vaccination. It’s vital that more owners are encouraged to vaccinate and those that already have, to keep up with their annual vaccinations and health checks so we don’t experience the same suffering again."

MSD's campaign invites horse owners to join the movement to #fightequineflu, and there is a range of materials to help practices promote the campaign and encourage clients to talk about vaccination and preventative healthcare, including an educational infographic poster, a social media pack and new resources on the Chameleon appointment reminder system. 

MSD will itself be promoting the campaign on social media (Facebook: @Keeping Britains Horses Healthy, Instagram: @KeepingHorsesHealthy), and through partnerships with consumer channels such as Horse and Country TV.

There is also a new information resource online at www.kbhh.co.uk/achoo, which offers horse owners links to a range of other educational preventative health materials and horse care advice.   

To request your Fight Equine Flu practice pack, speak to your MSD account manager.

References

1. www.equiflunet.org.uk
2. www.beta-uk.org/pages/industry-information/market.information.php

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