WPX: Merck expands vaccination options for today's evolving swine health challenges

Aug 17, 2026

The swine industry covers a wide range of operation types, each with their own herd health priorities. For those maintaining Mycoplasma-negative status specifically, how do those serologic monitoring requirements shape the vaccination decisions veterinarians and producers have to make?
For those who are involved, especially in multiplication or even farms that are mycoplasma negative, it's important that their status remains Myco-negative and that they don't have an antibody response to mycoplasma because it's hard to tease out a positive myco-antibody from vaccination versus field exposure.

At Merck, we have a product that's ready-to-use on the farm that just covers the circovirus and the Lawsonia protection that they need since they don't want to vaccinate for Mycoplasma in those herds.

Our CIRCUMVENT® CL product is now available for producers, and it's a nice ready-to-use option that gives the producer an option to not vaccinate for Mycoplasma but still get the circovirus and Lawsonia coverage in one bottle.

Lawsonia vaccination timing in the post-weaning phase can get complicated, especially when antibiotic use enters the picture. What should producers be considering when evaluating their options during that window?
This has been even more important in the past six months than it has in a while because of all the co-infections that we're seeing. We’re finding lots of PRRS outbreaks currently throughout the industry.

Antibiotics are a great tool for us to have when pigs are facing so many different health challenges. We currently offer three commercial vaccines to protect against Lawsonia intracellularis. PORCILIS® ILEITIS is an injectable that’s a killed vaccine so it's safe to use the vaccine in the face of antibiotics.

With our vaccine, you do not have to worry about timing it with an antibiotic-free window. You can continue to use your antibiotics to control other pathogens you're seeing in the barn while also getting the preventative ileitis vaccination into the pigs at a critical time.

Click here to see more...

Video: How Data Predicts Swine Outbreaks - Swaminathan Jayaraman

In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Swaminathan Jayaraman, Research Assistant and PhD Candidate at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, explains how integrated data systems can improve disease surveillance in swine production. He discusses combining diagnostics, animal movement data, production records, and spatial analytics to identify risks earlier and support proactive decision-making for PRRS, PED, and swine influenza. Listen now on all major platforms!

"Disease surveillance remains largely reactive because outbreaks are often confirmed only after transmission has already occurred across multiple connected production sites."

Meet the guest: Swaminathan Jayaraman / swamjay is a Graduate Research Assistant at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. With academic training in management information systems and engineering, he focuses on integrating diagnostic, production, and movement data to improve disease surveillance and decision support in swine production systems. Listen to Swaminathan Jayaraman on The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, available on all major platforms.