1.  In 1994 a joint UK/Ireland committee concluded that developing a badger vaccine against tuberculosis was a feasible option. In the UK this work has been taken forward by MAFF-funded research at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency which is now being subsumed into the vaccine development programme which was announced on 10 March 1999.

  2.  In the Irish Republic work has focused on the potential use of BCG as a badger vaccine. Dr Glyn Hewinson (VLA) was invited to act as a programme consultant, and expertise from the Irish universities and from France is also involved.

  3.  The objectives of the Irish programme are

—  to evaluate the immune responses of badgers vaccinated subcutaneously with BCG;

—  to compare the immune responses of vaccinated and non-vaccinated badgers over a one-year period;

—  to measure and compare the immune responses of vaccinated badgers against a panel of known T cell antigens; and

—  to assess the variability of the immune response to BCG vaccination.

  4.  The work is being carried out in an isolated badger population of about 30 individuals, about half of which will be vaccinated. Starting on 17 November 1998, the badgers were trapped, marked, vaccinated as appropriate, and released. Blood samples were sent to the VLA for analysis and results have suggested that the badgers are free of TB infection.

  5.  The badgers will be monitored. A first recapture exercise was held in January 1999, and samples were taken. Analyses (conducted at the Veterinary College in Dublin using VLA protocols) indicate that the response to TB antigens by the vaccinated animals were not significantly different to the responses by non-vaccinated animals, nor to the base-line responses obtained in November.

  6.  Further recapture is taking place in March 1999, when it is intended to give a booster vaccination to the vaccinated badgers.