General licence for bluetongue serotype 3 (BTV-3) vaccine
Use this service to report your use of the BTV-3 vaccine in England.
Applies to England
You must report your use of the BTV-3 vaccine as a condition of this licence. This will meet your legal requirement under condition 3 of the general licence.
General licence for using inactivated bluetongue 3 vaccine in England
Before you report
To use this service, you’ll need the:
- County Parish Holding (CPH) number for the location where the vaccinated animals are registered
- address of the holding where the animals are registered
- batch numbers of the vaccines administered to the animals
- official unique identifiers of any animals you have vaccinated
Submit a BTV-3 animal vaccination report
Once you’ve reported use of the BTV-3 vaccine using this service, you cannot view or change your answers.
If you used the previous report form
If you reported the first vaccine dose using the previous report form, you can also use it to report the second vaccine dose.
If you did not use the previous report form, use the new service to report the first and second vaccine doses.
Advisory note for veterinarians
Veterinarians should read the advisory note before prescribing any BTV-3 vaccine.
When you should use this licence
Defra’s Secretary of State has permitted the use of 3 unauthorised bluetongue serotype 3 (BTV-3) vaccines within the United Kingdom, subject to licence.
Although these vaccines are not authorised, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) has assessed them. They consider the vaccines to be of a consistent quality and safety, and efficacy has been demonstrated. Therefore, they meet the administration criteria under Schedule 4 of the Veterinary Medicine Regulations 2013 (VMR 2013).
Unlike the authorised vaccines for other BTV serotypes, the BTV-3 vaccines claim to reduce viraemia rather than prevent it. This means they may not prevent your animals from being infected or infectious, but (depending on the vaccine) their claims include reduction or prevention of clinical signs experienced or mortality.
For this reason, all movement controls and trade restrictions still apply to vaccinated animals. You should not test vaccinated animals as part of a pre-movement test in bluetongue zones until 7 days after their vaccination. This will prevent interference with BTV-3 monitoring.
The general licence only allows vaccination in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not licensed the use of vaccination for BTV-3 but will keep this position under review.
Discuss the merits of vaccination for your animals and business with your private veterinarian.
If you have previously applied for a specific licence to vaccinate your animals against BTV-3, you can either:
- use the specific licence while it is valid
- use the general licence instead
Get help
For help with this form, email: btv3vaccine@defra.gov.uk