Simon Kirby MP urges increase in funding for badger vaccination training

Simon Kirby, MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, has called on the Government to increase funding for badger vaccination training.

Mr Kirby has written to Environment Minister George Eustice MP, asking him to boost Government support for the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA), to allow them to meet increased demand for their lay vaccinator training course.

Courses are fully booked for 2014, which is preventing volunteer badger vaccination programmes from increasing their efforts to combat bovine TB.

Mr Kirby supports volunteer badger vaccination as a cost effective means of fighting bTB, and has worked with the Sussex Badger Vaccination Project (SBVP) in lobbying DEFRA to sanction a pilot vaccination programme in East Sussex.

Mr Kirby said, “Having spoken with members of the SBVP this week, I was concerned to hear that they have been unable to register volunteers on the AHVLA lay vaccinator course because they are fully booked for the rest of the year.

The demand for the courses is clearly outstripping supply, and I would like to see the Government act to help the AHVLA take on more volunteers.

I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response to the proposals I have outlined, and I will continue to make the case for a pilot vaccination programme in my constituency and across the high risk area in East Sussex.”