ffermio - Be prepared to vaccinate, it's the best protection against Bluetongue

Date:July 3rd, 2008

Be prepared to vaccinate, it's the best protection against Bluetongue

Advice categories: Animal Welfare / Bluetongue

Be prepared to vaccinate, it's the best protection against Bluetongue

The Welsh Assembly Government and farming industry are calling on farmers in Wales to be prepared to vaccinate against Bluetongue as it's the best protection against the disease. Those in the current Protection Zone must take up the opportunity to vaccinate and those in the current free zone are urged to contact their vet now to place an order for the vaccine.

Today Wales' Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Christianne Glossop said that the next priority area for the vaccine in Wales will be the South West. Dr Glossop said: "The next area we will declare a Protection Zone, enabling vaccination to take place, will be South West Wales, including the remainder of Neath Port Talbot, Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. This area has been chosen after careful analysis of a range of factors including a veterinary risk assessment, livestock populations, meteorological conditions and predicted midge circulation.

"The timing of the declaration will be dependent on the availability of further batches of the vaccine. I would encourage farmers in these areas to contact their vets now to order vaccine so that vaccination can begin as soon their orders arrive. We are now entering the period of greatest risk of Bluetongue as the circulation of the midges increases. This means everyone must be vigilant across Wales, and take advantage of the vaccine available in the Protection Zone."

NFU Cymru president, Dai Davies said "I am concerned that as an industry, because we have seen no new outbreaks so far this year that we are being lulled into a false sense of security. However we should be mindful that the disease last year was not confirmed until September and despite the movement restrictions in place at that time due to FMD we know how quickly the disease took hold and spread. It is as important now as it was then that we take the only measure that we can to protect our stock and our businesses and that is to vaccinate against blue tongue as soon as we are able to."

Farmers' Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan also repeated his plea to Welsh farmers to make arrangements with their vets to vaccinate livestock against Bluetongue. "I would like to repeat the advice I gave last month to farmers who have not registered with their vets to do so immediately.Given our core reliance in Wales on the livestock and milk sectors, it is imperative that we all take a proactive approach to minimising the threat of this terrible disease as we come into the high risk summer period Vaccinating our animals is the only realistic way of doing this.Those who have not yet contacted their vets should do so now and if you contacted your vet before the current ordering system was put in place, you should also double-check that your names have been carried on to the new lists," he added.

Dr Bob Stevenson from the British Veterinary Association said: "I cannot emphasise enough the importance of vaccination. It is the best and only protection against this disease. When vaccinating it is important that animals are healthy, and a vet will be able to advise on this."

A Protection Zone was declared in South East Wales on 27 June which enables vaccination to take place there. In the event of Bluetongue being confirmed in an area not previously affected we will review vaccination priorities accordingly. Further announcements on the extension of the Protection Zone will be made over the next few weeks as more batches of the vaccine become available.

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Be prepared to vaccinate, it's the best protection against Bluetongue

Be prepared to vaccinate, it's the best protection against Bluetongue

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