The government has slashed the price of bluetongue vaccine in a
bid to shift millions of doses before it goes out of date.
In an unexpected move likely to frustrate livestock producers
who paid full price, DEFRA insisted
it had no choice but to discount all remaining stocks of bluetongue
vaccine by 50% with immediate effect. The same discount will apply
in Wales.
Some 7.5m doses in 100ml bottles are languishing on DEFRA
shelves after the government underwrote the production of BTV-8
vaccine last year. Due to expire this summer, it will leave the
department with a £3.3m bill if unsold.
In an effort to cut its losses, DEFRA considered selling stocks
abroad before deciding to discount the vaccine on the domestic
market in the hope that doing so will encourage producer uptake and
reduce taxpayer liability.
Chief veterinary officer Nigel Gibbens said: “This is an added
incentive for those farmers who have not yet vaccinated their
animals, or who are looking to give their stock a booster during
the summer.
“With midges already active, and the
Met Office predicting a
warmer summer than last year, conditions for the spread of
bluetongue may be ideal. Livestock keepers should take this
opportunity to buy their vaccine at a discounted price.”
Vaccine will now be sold to wholesalers at 22p/ml rather at
44p/ml. If the discount is passed down the supply chain, the end
price can be expected to halve from about £86 to £43 for a 100ml
bottle. But it remains to be seen whether this happens.
In any case, retrospective discounts will not be applied – a
situation described by NFU
livestock chairman Alistair Mackintosh as “hellishly frustrating”
for farmers who had already paid full price.
Peter Morris, chief executive of the
National Sheep
Association, said it was impossible to condemn DEFRA which was
in a difficult position and obliged to obtain best value for
taxpayer’s money.
“Vaccine is better in animals than on shelves. But the
government must not be seen to be rewarding those producers who
didn’t bother to vaccinate at the expense of those who were
responsible and reacted swiftly.”
Nicky Paull, president of the
British Veterinary Association,
said she fully sympathised with farmers who would be thinking they
could have vaccinated livestock much more cheaply had they only
waited to do so.
“There was a clear understanding by practising veterinary
surgeons and therefore their farming clients that the cost of
bluetongue vaccine was likely to rise once the vaccine came under
full market conditions.”
Rather than bad planning, DEFRA blamed the stockpile on a
reduced appetite to vaccinate among farmers. “Vaccination is
voluntary, and reduced uptake in 2009 has meant the government
remains with unused stocks,” it said.