Bluetongue vaccine to be available within days

Apr 28 2008 by Sam Wood, The Journal

BLUETONGUE vaccine could become available in the next few days. The National Farmers Union hopes the vaccine could be with vets by the end of this week as it begins to arrive at wholesalers.

It is expected that Defra secretary Hilary Benn will make a statement sometime this week.

Alastair Johnstone, NFU Livestock adviser, told The Journal: “We want to get as many animals vaccinated we can as quickly as possible. It will be an ongoing process.”

The dose is one ml for sheep and two one ml doses taken over two weeks for cattle. The vaccine, that last a year, comes in two different bottle sizes. A 50ml bottle will cost between 55 and 66 pence per dose while the smaller 20ml bottle will cost between 82 and 98 pence per dose.

But North East farmers will not be at the front of the queue.

Mr Johnstone said: “The southern counties will take precedence as they are in the bluetongue surveillance zones.

“The North East is currently low risk and the line would have to move a lot for farmers in that region to be given the vaccine now.

“But Intervet, the company which is producing the vaccine have assured us they are producing enough to cover every farm in England.

“I would just say that Defra have been very good on this and have offered the industry lots of support.”

The release could come just in time as vets in Belgium and the Netherlands have reported that large numbers of cullicoides, the virus carrying midge, have become active in the last few days.

Dr Liz Genever, Beef and Sheep Scientist at the English Beef and Lamb Executive said: “We will be producing a leaflet in the coming days explaining to farmers how to vaccinate.

“But basically they need to apply to their local vet.

“Farmers can vaccinate their own animals but they need to be aware that to export animals or even move them between zones they will need a certificate from the vet. To get one of those the vet will need to do the vaccination.

“Farmers should know that if they vaccinate themselves they may be limiting where they can send their animals. It is too early to say if last winter was cold enough to kill the virus, or whether it has survived.”