{"id":295203,"date":"2025-07-27T06:19:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T06:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/295203\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T06:19:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T06:19:24","slug":"bluetongue-vaccine-approved-for-use-in-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/295203\/","title":{"rendered":"Bluetongue vaccine approved for use in Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) has permitted the use of three bluetongue (BTV-3) vaccines in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Northern Ireland remains free of bluetongue with no confirmed cases. However, the disease has become more prevalent across Europe in recent years and poses an increased risk.<\/p>\n<p>The use of vaccines is still subject to licensing and uptake will be voluntary.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fwi.co.uk\/livestock\/health-welfare\/livestock-diseases\/industry-must-back-bluetongue-vaccine-says-welsh-minister?fw_source=home_livestock\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Industry must back bluetongue vaccine, says Welsh minister<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NI farmers will now be able to use the vaccine as a precautionary measure, with it being found to reduce the severity of symptoms and lower the chance of mortality.<\/p>\n<p>However, vaccines do not prevent transmission or infection.<\/p>\n<p>Daera minister Andrew Muir said: \u201cMy department is continuing to take all necessary actions to protect Northern Ireland from an incursion of bluetongue virus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis includes our recently published BTV-3 Disease Control Framework.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we remain BTV free, I have now taken the decision to allow the use of the BTV-3 vaccines to give our farmers and livestock keepers an additional safeguard alongside our surveillance, prompt detection and control.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt aims to provide an additional tool to help protect their flocks and herds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daera\u2019s disease control framework and further guidance for livestock producers can be found on the government website.<\/p>\n<p>NI chief veterinary officer Brian Dooher added: \u201cWe continue to urge all livestock keepers to remain vigilant for the signs of BTV as we enter the high-risk period, and advise them to contact their private veterinary practitioner should they have any concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The use of BTV-3 vaccines is already permitted in England, Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n<p>There have been four cases of BTV-3 confirmed in England so far for the 2025-26 vector period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) has permitted the use of three bluetongue (BTV-3) vaccines&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-295203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-northern-ireland","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114923750898807022","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}