Vaccination 'last resort' says minister

Vaccination could prevent the disease spreading

Vaccination should be only used as a last resort against foot-and-mouth disease, Northern Ireland's agriculture minister has said.

Brid Rodgers' comments came as a government-commissioned report, published on Tuesday, recommended vaccination should be part of any strategy to control a future foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK.

The Royal Society inquiry said animals on an infected farm should still be culled but suggested healthy livestock on neighbouring premises should be vaccinated as a "major tool of first resort" to prevent the disease spreading further.

But Mrs Rodgers said she remained to be convinced that vaccination was the right option.

Bird Rodgers not convinced over vaccination

"Unless you had to use it, we would be very reluctant because of the impact on the export trade.

"It is something you would have to keep at the back of your mind and use if necessary, depending on the situation," said Mrs Rodgers.

"We didn't find it necessary as we were able to keep ahead of the disease and we didn't need to use vaccination. We were very lucky."

Northern Ireland's first outbreak was detected on 1 March last year among sheep imported from Britain to south Armagh.

Thousands of sheep and cattle were culled as cases of the disease were discovered in County Tyrone and in the Glens of Antrim.

'Cull not sufficient

The report, from Britain's foremost academy of science, is the first of two major studies into the government's handling of the epidemic last year.

The crisis resulted in the deaths of nearly four million animals, and the destruction of thousands of farmers' livelihoods.

The Royal Society report said the mass cull and severe clampdown on livestock movement implemented by government officials was essential to contain the highly infectious disease - but these measures were not enough on their own, it said.

Thousands of animals were culled

"The rapid culling of infected premises and known dangerous contacts, combined with movement control and rapid diagnosis will remain essential to controlling foot-and-mouth disease and most other highly infectious diseases," the report said.

"In many cases this will not be sufficient to guarantee that the outbreak does not develop into an epidemic."

The Royal Society recommended Britain liaise with its European partners to ensure the necessary emergency vaccination procedures can be used by the end of next year.

The report stressed that routine vaccination should not take place in the UK, as long as the risk of disease entering the country remained low and provided proper procedures to handle a future outbreak were put in place.

The Royal Society urged international research groups to investigate "a vaccine that conferred sterile lifelong immunity against all foot-and-mouth strains", which would globally reduce the threat from the disease.

Currently, individual vaccines are only effective against a limited range of disease strains and animals have to receive regular boosters to maintain their immunity.