Written question asked by Martyn Jones (Labour) on Wednesday, 11 March 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 13 March 2009. It was answered by Jane Kennedy (Labour) on Wednesday, 25 March 2009 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Bluetongue Disease: Vaccination

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the adequacy of supplies of bluetongue vaccine to respond effectively to an outbreak of the disease in 2009.

Answer: DEFRA underwrote 28 million doses of BTV8 vaccine in 2008, enough for all susceptible animals in England. 12 million of these doses formed the supply at the start of 2009. This along with free market vaccine supplies from the three manufacturers authorised to market vaccine in the UK, Intervet, Merial and Fort Dodge should meet the demand for BTV8 vaccine in 2009.DEFRA continues to closely monitor the situation in Europe, and engage with experts and manufacturers on the issue of vaccine development and authorisation for other serotypes of bluetongue.However, currently BTV8 is the only vaccine that can legally be used in the UK, and farmers should not wait for BTV1 or bivalent vaccine to become available this year. We remain at risk from BTV8 and we are working with the industry-led JAB campaign to encourage farmers to vaccinate to protect themselves at the earliest convenient opportunity.

Secondary information