Pneumonia vaccines in cattle

An important part of the herd health plan is an effective vaccination strategy for common causes of pneumonia. To prevent respiratory disease, good management, appropriate building design and ventilation are also important.

Respiratory disease occurs when bacterial or viral agents (sometimes both simultaneously) are combined with poor air quality and ventilation, poor husbandry or stress. Calves are more susceptible than adult cattle.

Financial losses result from mortality, extra labour and treatment costs, but the greatest loss is from weight loss during illness and recovery.

Vaccination is a cost effective tool to aid in the prevention of pneumonia.

Seventeen vaccines for pneumonia are licensed in the UK (updated October 2025):

Bovalto Respi 3 contains inactivated M. haemolytica A1, inactivated Bovine respiratory syncytial and Parainfluenza 3 viruses
Bovalto Respi 4 contains inactivated M. haemolytica A1, inactivated Bovine respiratory syncytial, Parainfluenza 3 and BVD viruses
Bovalto Respi Intranasal contains modified live Bovine respiratory syncytial virus and Parainfluenza 3 virus
Bovilis Bovipast RSP contains inactivated M. haemolytica A1, inactivated Bovine respiratory syncytial and Parainfluenza 3 viruses
Bovilis® INtranasal RSP™ Live contains modified live Bovine respiratory syncytial virus and Parainfluenza 3 virus
Bovilis ® Nasalgen-C contains modified live bovine coronavirus
Hiprabovis SOMNI/Lkt contains inactivated M. haemolytica leukotoxoid and inactivated Histophilus somni
NASYM contains modified live Bovine respiratory syncytial virus
Pneumovac contains inactivated M. haemolytica A1, and inactivated Bovine respiratory syncytial and Parainfluenza 3 viruses
Pneumovac Plus contains inactivated M. haemolytica A1, inactivated Bovine respiratory syncytial, Parainfluenza 3 viruses and live BVD virus
Rispoval 2 contains modified live Bovine respiratory syncytial virus and Parainfluenza 3 virus
Rispoval 3 contains modified live Bovine respiratory syncytial and Parainfluenza 3 viruses and inactivated BVD virus
Rispoval 4 contains modified live Bovine respiratory syncytial and Parainfluenza 3 viruses, and inactivated BVD and Bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BVH-1) viruses
Rispoval® Pasteurella contains inactivated M. haemolytica
Rispoval RS contains modified live Bovine respiratory syncytial virus
Rispoval RS+PI3 Intranasal contains modified live Bovine respiratory syncytial and Parainfluenza 3 viruses.
Protivity contains modified live Mycoplasma bovis

Vaccines for Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR) containing only Bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1) have not been included in the estimated uptake of vaccines targeted at calf pneumonia.

The uptake of vaccines for IBR has been estimated separately.

Assumptions

Numerator

The number of doses of vaccine administered has been calculated by multiplying the number of packs sold by the number of doses per pack.

The recommended primary vaccination course for these vaccines was used to estimate the number of cattle vaccinated in each calendar year.

Denominator

With these vaccines, the common industry practice is only to vaccinate animals in the first year of life. It was assumed that only animals under one year of age were vaccinated; the total population of cattle under one year of age was used as the denominator for the target population.