"Emergency vaccination is being kept under review......"Click here for August 7 updated "FMD disease emergency vaccination - question and answer brief" from the DEFRA site.
From DEFRA's general Question and Answer page Aug 2007 - section on vaccination http://www.defra.gov.uk/footandmouth/qanda/index.htm
Extract.Vaccination
Will you vaccinate? Emergency vaccination is being kept under review. If a veterinary risk assessment shows that measures additional to the basic slaughter policy are required to control the disease. The (FMD control of) Vaccination Regulations 2006 place vaccination at the forefront of disease control policies and put in place control measures to enable vaccination to take place. The Government accepts that emergency vaccination should be considered as a disease control option from the start of any outbreak of FMD. There is a vaccination contingency plan in place, which enables vaccination to begin 5 days after disease is confirmed if it is felt necessary.Why are we producing vaccine now?
Under our contingency plan, we are committed to being logistically ready to vaccinate within 5 days of confirmation of an FMD outbreak which is now the case as we have mobilised our vaccination contractors. We therefore need to ensure that we also have the vaccine available. The vaccine has already been produced in antigen form which means that it is easier to store for a number of technical reasons. We have ordered 300,000 doses of vaccine, now we know the relevant strain, to be made into finished vaccine.What is it we are producing?
Vaccine that is effective against the strain found in Surrey (O BFS 67).Where is it being produced and why?
It is being produced at the Merial production facility in Pirbright which is the only facility licensed to produce FMD vaccines in the UK. Obviously we would not be doing this without careful consideration and assessment of the risks. This production has been approved by the Health and Safety Executive and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate as safe as it does not involve the use of live virus and has no bearing on the current investigation. Production does not indicate that decision has been taken to vaccinate.This is a fairly new vaccine, has it had its potency test?
The VMD have advised that this vaccine has passed all the normal safety checks and is safe to use. Blood tests have also shown a good level of protection although live animal tests on this batch have yet to be carried out - but in view of the need to have all options available we are going ahead.Is it dangerous?
No the vaccines do not contain live virus.Does this mean we are going to start vaccinating?
Our current risk assessment is that it is not necessary to vaccinate at this stage but we are keeping this under constant review in the light of the disease situation. Actions to date are part of the contingency plan and good preparedness.If vaccination is used as a control method in this outbreak, how would that impact on the ability to export meat or live animals?
Vaccination to live, which would be our prefered option, would mean that it would take 6 months (rather than 3 months for a vaccinate to kill or slaughter only policy) to gain FMD free status for the purposes of international trade. The 6 months would run from the last confirmed case or the last vaccination, whichever is the later, and would require serological testing of a proportion of vaccinated animals to demonstrate that they are not infected. FMD disease emergency vaccination - question and answer brief.
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FMD disease emergency vaccination - question and answer briefThis page was last updated on 7 August 2007.I. Future disease control policy
- Q1. In the event of a future outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), what would be the disease control policy?
- Q2. Why dont we routinely vaccinate livestock against FMD?
- Q3. In the event of a future outbreak of FMD, how would the Government determine its disease control strategy?
- Q4. How will the Decision Tree help in the decision making process on disease control strategy?
- Q5. Why cant the Government decide now how it would control a future FMD outbreak?
- Q6. Can the EU force a Member State to vaccinate?
- Q7. How quickly would a decision to vaccinate be made?
- Q8. How can stakeholders be sure that vaccination is properly considered by the Government as a disease control option in the event of a future outbreak?
- Q9. What vaccination strategy would be used?
- Q10. So when would Suppressive vaccination (to kill) be considered?
- Q11. How would the size of the vaccination zone and species to be vaccinated be determined?
- Q12. If vaccination was restricted to one or two localities, how would this be justified to farmers elsewhere?
- Q13. When will the new EU Directive become domestic legislation?
II. What has changed since 2001?
- Q14. Was emergency vaccination considered as a disease control measure during the 2001 FMD outbreak?
- Q15. Why didnt we vaccinate in 2001?
- Q16. So what has changed since 2001 with regard to the use of emergency vaccination?
III. Vaccine supplies
- Q17. Does the UK hold supplies of vaccines?
- Q18. Will the UK have sufficient stocks of vaccines?
- Q19. How do we know whether we are holding stocks of the right strains of vaccine?
- Q20. What strains of FMD vaccine do we currently hold?
IV. Operational arrangements
- Q21. Which animals would be vaccinated?
- Q22. Over what period of time would the vaccination programme be expected to be completed?
- Q23. What is the line of command for managing a vaccination programme?
- Q24. How will farmers be informed when their animals will be vaccinated?
- Q25. Why use a commercial contractor to vaccinate?
- Q26. How will the vaccination contractor work alongside the Local Disease Control Centre (LDCC)?
- Q27. What level of resource is the vaccination contractor able to provide?
- Q28. What capability is there to increase the level of resource needed?
- Q29. Once the vaccination zone has been determined, how will the contractor implement a vaccination programme?
- Q30. What happens if a member of a vaccination team suspects that FMD is present on a farm?
- Q31. What biosecurity arrangements will apply to the contractor?
- Q32. What arrangements are in place for on farm biosecurity?
- Q33. What happens to clinical waste?
- Q34. Why use lay vaccinators?
- Q35. What controls are in place to safeguard the vaccines safety efficacy and efficiency?
- Q36. What training will be provided to lay vaccinators?
- Q37. What role will farmers play in the vaccination process?
- Q38. What if farmers refuse to assist/co-operate?
- Q39. Will farmers be paid if they assist in the vaccination process?
- Q40. How will vaccinated animals be identified?
- Q41. What data/records will be kept of vaccinated animals?
- Q42. Will teams have mobile crushes?
- Q43. What equipment is available to implement a vaccination programme?
- Q44. Who would take the decision to vaccinate if there is a case of FMD on the English/ Scottish or English/ Welsh border?
- Q45. What arrangements are in place to test contingency plans for vaccination?
V. Effectiveness of vaccination
- Q46. Are the current vaccines good enough to control the disease?
- Q47. Can FMD mutate in response to the vaccine?
- Q48. Can vaccinated animals develop and spread the disease?
- Q49. What is the risk of spread from infected animals to those already vaccinated?
- Q50. What is the vaccine effectiveness/disease risk when animal are stressed e.g. at weaning?
VI. Post vaccination testing
- Q51. How quickly after vaccination could the country regain its FMD freedom status?
- Q52. What sort of tests would be used to demonstrate absence of infection in animals that have been vaccinated?
- Q53. Are existing Non Structural Protein (NSP) tests internationally recognised?
VII. Stakeholder issues
- Q54. Do stakeholders still have reservations about the possible use of Emergency vaccination in the event of a future outbreak?
- Q55. What assessment has been made of the likely economic implications if a decision is taken to vaccinate?
- Q56. Are stakeholders aware of the Governments Vaccination policy?
VIII. What happens to animals and their products after they have been vaccinated?
- Q57. What are the various Phases of a vaccination campaign?
- Q58. Are there any movement controls on vaccinated animals?
- Q59. What happens to the products from vaccinated animals?
- Q60. Why do products from vaccinated animals have to be treated before being placed on the market?
- Q61. What is the required treatment for milk from vaccinated animals?
- Q62. What is the required treatment for meat from vaccinated animals?
- Q63. Can we export any products from vaccinated animals to the EU?
- Q64. Can we export products from vaccinated animals to third countries?
- Q65. Is compensation paid for animals which are vaccinated?
- Q66. After vaccination, when could farmers safely restock with other cattle/sheep/pigs?
- Q67. Would vaccination have any implications for the feeding and management of treated animals? Would there be any husbandry or behavioural characteristics farmers should expect to which they need to respond?
- Q68. What assurances would Her Majesty's Government have over the re-opening of the UK export market and to third countries following an outbreak of FMD?
IX. Treatment of products from animals which have not been vaccinated
- Q69. Do products from unvaccinated animals have to be treated?
- Q70. Why do products from unvaccinated animals have to be treated?
- Q71. So what are the required treatments for products from the Infected Area?
- Q72. How long would these treatments be required?
X. Vaccination surveillance area
- Q73. What is the Vaccination Surveillance Area?
- Q74. What controls would be placed on the Vaccination Surveillance Area?
XI. Special measures
- Q75. What arrangements are in place for the conservation of rare breeds?
- Q76. Which groups of animals will be eligible to be registered as rare breeds?
- Q77. What are the special measures which may be applied to rare breeds?
- Q78. Are zookeepers also required to pre-register their animals for special measures?
I. Future disease control policy
Q1. In the event of a future outbreak of FMD, what would be the disease control policy?
A. As in 2001, the basic disease control policy in the event of a future outbreak would be the slaughter of susceptible animals on infected premises and those identified as dangerous contacts. This is the requirement of the new EU FMD Directive. But greater prominence would be given to the use of emergency vaccination if measures additional to the basic slaughter policy were required to control the disease.
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