UK sheep flock at risk from vaccine crisis, NSA warns
31st July 2023
Vital vaccines for sheep and beef have become scarce during the past three years due to disruptions to animal vaccine supplies.
Stock photo for illustration only.
Serious issues with vaccine availability is impacting animal health and welfare, the National Sheep Association has said. It is urging vaccine manufacturers, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the UK government to take action to ensure reliable vaccine supplies.
In 2021 63% of the national sheep flock was vaccinated against clostridial diseases and 51% against Pasteurellosis.
However, sheep farmers across the country are now struggling to get these vaccines, as well as those for toxoplasmosis, enzootic abortion, foot rot, and orf, which protect against often catastrophic consequences for individual animals.
Lack of available vaccines also threatens to undo the hard work of British livestock farmers in reducing antibiotic usage, as well as efforts to improve productivity and reduce carbon footprints, said Phil Stocker, NSA chief executive.
“NSA is especially concerned the lack of availability of these vaccines will be detrimental to animal health and welfare, and result in prolonged suffering for animals, that may require antibiotic use at a time when farmers have been doing their very best to minimise the use of these valuable treatments,” he commented.
“NSA is worried that after all the efforts made to encourage vaccine use, many farmers will have no choice but to stop vaccinating and if they see few immediate problems getting them to start again will be difficult.”
NSA is calling for strategic action at government level to secure a reliable vaccine supply. It has written to the VMD, APHA, vaccine manufacturers and distributors, and Defra, calling on them to work with the farming and veterinary industry to secure a much more resilient vaccine production and distribution chain in the UK.
Mr Stocker concluded: “There is little point in encouraging vaccine uptake if farmers can’t access the products. NSA is hearing time and again that the disruptions are Brexit related, and as an independent nation we now need some strategic forward thinking and planning to overcome these problems and avoid them happening again.”
