Is Bluetongue vaccination effort running out of steam?
Low take up of vaccine in Cumbria and Northumberland.
Defra Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, Alick Simmons says he is concerned at the low take up of Bluetongue vaccine in Northern England. Recent evidence indicates a drop or delay in vaccine take-up in counties recently brought into the Protection Zone. Sales data for some of those counties suggest that the number of animals vaccinated in these areas could be as low as one in three, and in Northumberland and Cumbria, the most recent counties brought into the Protection Zone, as low as one in five.
His message comes at a time when a fourth incident of imported Bluetongue has been logged by Defra on a farm in County Durham. The animals involved are 18 imported cattle which originated from within the BTV8 Restricted Zone in Germany. They were detected as a result of post-import testing carried out by Defra on all Bluetongue susceptible animals arriving from Continental Europe.
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