Badger vaccination – protection and benefits will take time to achieve, Joyce says

The north Pembrokeshire badger vaccination project will take “at least five years” to deliver significant benefits, Assembly Member Joyce Watson has said.
The Mid and West AM made the comments in the Senedd today during questions to the Minister for Natural Resources and Food, Alun Davies.
Mrs Watson said: “It is clear to any sensible person that there are no silver bullets when it comes to eradicating TB, though there might be stray ones in Gloucestershire and Somerset.
“According to scientific modelling it will take a few years for vaccination to deliver significant benefits. Given that the life span of a badger is roughly five years, we can expect to see a new, clean, healthy badger population in north Pembrokeshire in a few years’”.
Mrs Watson has been a firm supporter of vaccination. As Labour’s Rural Affairs spokesperson, in 2009 she voted against former Plaid Cymru Environment Minister Elin Jones’s plan for a badger cull.
In response, the Minister said there is no “single, easy or cost-free” way to eradicate bovine TB. He confirmed the Welsh Government is committed to delivering the five-year vaccination project in the north Pembrokeshire Intensive Action Area (IAA). The objective is to eradicate TB from both cattle and wildlife populations in Wales, he confirmed.
For more information contact Joyce Watson’s office on 02920 898972 or at: www.joycewatson.co.uk