At the EU ‘Agriculture’ Council on Monday 26 May, Hungary, supported by several delegations (including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Croatia, France, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia), called on the European Commission to put in place a legal framework that would allow a pragmatic approach to the prevention and control of animal diseases through vaccination, in line with scientific advances in vaccine development (see EUROPE 13508/3).
The countries concerned also called for greater efforts to lift international trade restrictions, by promoting acceptance of preventive vaccination in international forums.
Several ministers stressed the need to guarantee sufficient European funding to enable Member States to combat animal diseases effectively.
Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for Health, declared that the European Union had all the science and risk-based rules “for using vaccination against the so-called category A diseases (...) that normally are not present in the EU”.
The Commissioner also referred to international trade restrictions, and even export bans on animals or animal products, which can have serious and lasting economic impacts. Joint efforts need to be stepped up at international level to ensure that vaccination is accepted “so that it cannot be a barrier to trade”, he stressed.
“We should use vaccination, and we should also make sure that it will not lead to trade bans or barriers. My services are working very hard to ensure that the wider acceptance of vaccination in international standards becomes a reality”, the Commissioner summarised.
Olivér Várhelyi also highlighted the need for new vaccines against animal diseases. Many have already been authorised by the Commission, notably against avian flu, blue tongue serotype 3, and episodic haemorrhagic disease. The EU also has antigen vaccine banks, financed by European funds, for foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever, lumpy skin disease, peste des petits ruminants (also known as sheep and goat plague) and sheep and goat pox. The Commission is firmly committed to supporting Member States in the area of vaccination and to integrating this approach into health strategies wherever possible, including from an economic point of view. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)