Agriculture Minister Piet Adema wants a “safe and effective vaccine” against bluetongue to be available as soon as possible, but at least before the new midge season in mid-2024 next year.
The midge transmits the bluetongue virus. The outgoing minister has made 120,000 euros available to Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR), so that it can create a model where pharmaceutical companies can test their vaccine. Adema writes this to the House of Representatives.
One and a half year
If there is a ‘candidate vaccine’, Adema wants it to go through the assessment and authorization procedure more quickly. But an accelerated assessment must also take into account that a vaccine will only become available after at least six months, the minister warns. According to outgoing Minister Adema, a normal procedure takes a year and a half.
To date, bluetongue has been detected on more than 5,300 Dutch livestock farms in the Netherlands. The virus mainly affects sheep, which often do not survive an infection. In the recent period, more than 5 percent of the sheep population has died, Adema writes. The ministry also sees deaths in cattle and “other animal species such as goats.”
There is not yet a suitable and authorized vaccine in the Netherlands and the European Union.