Intervet ‘worked around clock’ for Defra

Animal health company Intervet worked “around the clock” to provide the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) with a vaccine against Bluetongue disease in just 20 months, it has been revealed.

Usually, it takes up to ten years to fully develop such a vaccine, but Intravet embarked upon an emergency programme to create it in September 2006, soon after the first European outbreak was reported.

This week (May 1st), cattle at Bixley Farms in Norfolk became the first animals in the country to be vaccinated against Bluetongue serotype 8, as more than one million animals in the Protection Zone were given the vaccine.

David Hallas, general manager of Intervet UK, said: “It is a testament to all those involved at Intervet, Defra and the regulatory authorities that we are ahead of schedule in releasing the vaccine.”

Within the next couple of days, a further two million doses of the vaccine will be delivered to wholesalers Defra has announced.

Sheep will require one dose of the vaccine, while cattle will require two, spread three weeks apart.