10 Aug 2026
New appeals made as cases more than double in past five days – and surge compared to this time last year.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Image: Gill / Adobe stock
A vet at the heart of the current bluetongue crisis in south-west England has sought to reassure farmers they will benefit from vaccinating their animals against the virus.
The message came as it was revealed that more than 16 times as many cases have been reported so far this season than at the same point in 2025.
Senior clinicians and industry leaders have renewed their pleas for urgent action amid fears infections are unlikely to peak for some time yet.
Jenny Schmidt, of Torch Farm Vets, which runs several practices in Devon and Cornwall, also argued her experiences suggested farmers would not “regret” vaccinating when she addressed the latest AHDB-hosted webinar on the virus.
She said: “They feel like they have to sit on their hands if they’re just nursing. They’re fighting fires.
“Vaccination actually puts some power back into their hands and its going to be of definite benefit to some animals. I just can’t tell you what proportion.”
As of 5 August, a total of 134 BTV-3 incidents had been confirmed since 1 July in England and Wales, a 1,575% increase on the eight detected in the same period last year.
Since then, the total has more than doubled, with figures released today (10 August) showing 288 cases, plus the first recorded incident in Scotland.
Although no clear patterns have yet emerged, Miss Schmidt told the session, held shortly after those figures were released, that some farms had seen as many as half of their animals become ill with mortality rates also showing similar variation.
She also reported a significant increase in vaccine take-up since the outbreak began and argued that not vaccinating herds and flocks posed the “greater risk”.
Boehringer Ingelheim, which manufactures one of the BTV-3 vaccines licensed for use in the UK, said it was “working at pace” to ensure farmers could access the treatment and liaising with Defra, the VMD and others to bring additional supplies into the country.
But concerns have also been raised about the effect of misinformation on vaccine take-up, including claims their use is linked to infertility, which webinar attendees heard described as a “ridiculous myth”.
During an earlier media briefing, Welsh CVO Richard Irvine stressed the issue had not been reported despite millions of vaccine doses being administered in Europe.
He said: “Vaccine is not a cause of infertility. Bluetongue is, so vaccinating and talking to your vet is absolutely crucial.”
He argued that the current situation should be seen as a “call to action” with the disease now thought to be circulating in high livestock density areas, while his Scottish counterpart, Sheila Voas, warned producers who chose not to vaccinate would be “gambling” with the health of their herds and flocks.
But Dr Irvine also urged caution in the sourcing of replacement stock, amid fears of the virus being brought into previously unaffected areas and its potential to pose a longer-term threat.
He said: “Particularly thinking about where we are in Wales, we feel like we’re on the cusp of something that could be really bad – not just this year but next year.”
Further information and resources are available via the Battle Bluetongue webpage.