Project to look at TB vaccinations

Study will look into effectiveness of a scaled-up badger vaccination programme

- 

A NEW project hopes to understand the effectiveness and practicality of a scaled-up badger vaccination programme in a bid to eliminate TB.

The three-year research project aims to build a picture of how vaccination could prevent TB in the badger population and in cattle herds.

It comes after a decline in bovine TB in England over the past decade, with farmers hopeful that trend can be continued such that TB is eradicated - particularly as wildlife control licenses come to an end.

‘The NFU and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) secured £1.4m of Defra funding for the work, which is being driven by farmers in Cornwall.

‘A previous study by the ZSL and Cornwall Wildlife Trust found that the number of badgers testing positive for exposure to TB dropped from 16% to 0% over four years of vaccination.