Schmallenberg vaccine launch next week

MSD Animal Health has been awarded a licence to market the Schmallenberg vaccine in Ireland. Supplies of the new vaccine, Bovilis SBV, will be available before the end of June.

It is the first commercially available vaccine against the disease, which spread rapidly across Europe since it was first identified in Schmallenberg in Germany late in 2011.

The recommended vaccine dosage in sheep is a single subcutaneous 2ml injection, and two 2ml injections four weeks apart in cows.