Badger TB vaccine shortage halts trial

Vaccination of badgers against bovine TB has been suspended due to interruption of vaccine supplies, the deputy farming minister has said.

More than 5,500 vaccinations have been given during a five year trial in and around north Pembrokeshire.

Rebecca Evans told AMs the one company which produced the vaccine had stopped doing so while it tackled a backlog of demand for human TB vaccines.

Plaid Cymru's Llyr Gruffydd said it made a "complete mockery" of the trial.

The vaccination programme was announced by Labour ministers in 2012, when they abandoned the previous Labour/Plaid coalition government's intention to cull badgers in the intensive action area (IAA).

"As she considers her options and tries to salvage what learning she can from this shambles, the Deputy Minister must confirm whether she will be revisiting and reconsidering all alternative strategies to remove TB in wildlife," said Mr Gruffydd.

'Baffling'

The Conservatives said the "fiasco" could have been prevented if there had been "robust supply agreements".

Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies said: "A long-term supply agreement could have avoided today's announcement and Welsh farmers will rightly question why this wasn't obtained."

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams added: "The world-wide shortage of the BCG vaccine for humans is well-known, so why Labour hadn't put a contingency plan in place is baffling."

Ms Evans defended the suspension, saying: "This does not mean that the hard work of the previous years will have been wasted. We have successfully administered more than 5,500 doses during that time."

TB infection rates in cattle have fallen across Wales, although the chief vet Prof Christianne Glossop said in July it was too early to say how much the badger vaccination programme had contributed.