16/07/2002

Rodgers hits out at foot-and-mouth vaccination recommendation

A government-commissioned report published on Tuesday has recommended that vaccination should be used to control any future foot-and-mouth outbreaks in the UK.

While the Royal Society inquiry said animals on an infected farm should still be culled, it did suggest that healthy livestock on neighbouring premises should be vaccinated as a "first resort" in preventing a further spread of the disease.

However, Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Brid Rodgers hit out at the report and said that vaccination should only be used as a last resort against foot-and-mouth.

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.

Northern Ireland's first outbreak was detected on March 1 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.

(MB)


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