Government response

Myth bust: vaccinating cattle against bovine TB

The myth: In an article in the Mail on Sunday on 21 October, Brian May claims that the UK can already vaccinate cattle against TB if it wants鈥�

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Published
21 October 2012
This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

The myth: In an article in the Mail on Sunday on 21 October, Brian May claims that the UK can already vaccinate cattle against TB if it wants to.

The truth: Cattle vaccination is not currently permitted in the UK. If cattle were vaccinated using a vaccine that is not licensed by the EU, Britain would no longer be able to export聽beef or dairy products, at an estimated cost to the industry of 拢2.2bn.

Before a vaccine can be used, we must be able to demonstrate we have a test which can tell the difference between an animal that is infected with TB or one that has been vaccinated. We鈥檙e working on this test (known as the 鈥淒IVA test鈥�) as quickly as possible but it is still some way off being ready to use.

Updates to this page

Published 21 October 2012