A bovine TB vaccination will not be effective in badgers
until at least 2020, the former president of the
British Cattle Veterinary
Association has warned.
While a badger vaccine is expected to be developed by 2014, it
would take more than five years before any effects would be seen,
BCVA's Andy Biggs said.
"Badgers infected with TB prior to vaccination will still be
able to transmit the disease to cattle. So until 2020 it is
unlikely we will see any positive effects from controlling the
disease with a vaccine," he said.
DEFRA secretary Hilary
Benn announced on Monday (7 July) he would make £20m available to
develop a TB vaccine over the next three years.
This was in addition to the £18m which has already been invested
over the last decade.
Of the £20m announced for vaccine
development, only half is new money
While Mr Benn admitted it would be "some time" before an oral
vaccine for badgers or a cattle vaccine became available, he said
the investment would speed up the development.
Junior DEFRA minister Jeff Rooker said the earliest projected
date for widespread use of a cattle vaccine was 2015, while an oral
badger vaccine would be available by 2014.
An injectable badger vaccine would be ready for use by 2010, but
cost and the practicalities of administering it meant it was not
expected to be widely used, he added.
Even when a vaccine was developed, EU law would need to be
changed to allow the vaccination of cattle against TB.
"These things are not around the corner," he said.
The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers criticised the
£20m announced by the government towards vaccine development,
claiming it represented "little new funding".
"Almost half of the £20 million funding had already been
allocated for vaccine research, leaving only the remainder as
likely new money," Lyndon Edwards, RABDF chairman said.
"We also wonder who is going to pay for and administer these
vaccines, in particular that for badgers."