Brussels, 14/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 14 February, the European Parliament in Strasbourg adopted the report by Janusz Wojciechowski, thus endorsing the Council's first reading position with a view to adopting the directive on amending Directive 2000/75/EC on vaccination against bluetongue fever in sheep (see EUROPE 10549). The rules allow more effective use of the new vaccines against this epizootic. If member states implement these rules rapidly, the new vaccines may be used from the 2012 vaccination season.
The directive in question aims to update, and make more flexible, the rules in force regarding vaccination against bluetongue, as set out in Directive 2000/75/EC. Ovine catarrhal fever, or bluetongue, is a disease that affects ruminants (such as cattle, sheep and goats) and is transmitted by insect vectors that spread the virus from one animal to the next. Vaccination is the preferred tool for bluetongue control and prevention of clinical disease in the EU. The use of vaccines is, however, limited by the current rules set out in Directive 2000/75/EC, which foresee the use of vaccines only in areas where the disease has occurred and which have therefore been subject to animal movement restrictions. Those rules are based on experience with the so-called “modified live vaccines” or “live accentuated vaccines” that were the only vaccines available when the directive was adopted a decade ago. Those vaccines may lead to undesired circulation of the vaccine virus in unvaccinated animals in the areas where the vaccine has been used. The new flexible rules introduced by the draft directive are based on the fact that inactivated vaccines are now available, which can also be successfully used outside areas subject to animal movement restrictions.
The directive will take effect the day after it is published in the EU Official Journal. Member states will then have six months in which to transpose the new rules into their national body of law. (LC/transl.jl)