NSA webinar to provide advice on the current sheep vaccine shortage

The ongoing impact of the UK livestock vaccine shortage will be the hot topic of discussion for sheep farmers joining the National Sheep Association (NSA) Breakfast Club webinar next month.

As farmers continue to experience issues sourcing essential vaccines to promote improved animal health and welfare the webinar will provide a useful opportunity to understand more about the complications and impacts on animal health that the vaccine shortage is having, it will also provide practical advice on what to do if farmers are unable to access vaccines.

NSA Chief Executive, Phil Stocker says: “NSA has endeavoured to keep its members and other UK sheep farmers up to date on the ongoing difficulties felt in sourcing vaccines via its NSA publications and online engagement. This webinar will add to this providing a fuller update on the vaccine availability situation across the UK, giving a a chance to attendees to hear and ask questions over alternative strategies to reduce disease risk.”

For more than a year, problems with supply have existed across many vaccines, including those preventing clostridial and pasteurella disease, abortion, lameness and orf, with some more acutely affected than others.

NSA has been in regular contact with manufacturing companies to try to help resolve the shortages seen across the country as well as writing to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and Lord Benyon, Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to try to rectify the ongoing issues in supply. More recently NSA has written to Sir Robert Goodwill as chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee suggesting this would be a helpful topic for them to investigate.

Mr Stocker continues: “In this NSA Breakfast Club we will hear from Jonathon Statham – Chair of the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England Committee - who will discuss the reasons why we are seeing a shortage across supply chains, how it might be rectified and how long this might take to resolve as well as the wider long term impacts this shortage might have across the livestock industry.

“We will also hear from Dr Joe Henry – specialist beef and sheep vet (Black Sheep Vets) on management practices, how to mitigate long term impacts and what to do if you can’t access vaccines along with what should be classed as priority stock and how you can move towards overcoming some impacts of a vaccine shortage across industry.”

The NSA Breakfast Club webinar series is free to join. ‘Vaccines, why we can’t get them and how to manage the implications’ will take place on Wednesday 4^th October at 8.30am. Registration can be made ahead of the webinar on the NSA website.