Farmers urged to use vaccine fridge grant
Vaccines should be kept at 2-8 degrees Celsius.
Farmers have been asked to make use of a new grant to part-fund specialist vaccine fridges on their premises.
The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) can be used to cover up to 50 per cent of the cost of a medical-grade fridge, which would ensure vaccines are kept at the correct temperature.
The calls come after an MSD Animal Health study found that 84 per cent of vaccine fridges were storing vaccines outside of the correct temperature range. This could potentially compromise the efficacy of vaccines, endanger the safety of animals and risk vaccines not working.
MSD Animal Health's study saw it survey 19 farms across South West England to assess the success of their vaccine storage.
Researchers found that none of the fridges were able to maintain the recommended temperature range of 2-8 degrees Celsius. Many of the fridges stayed outside of the safe range long enough to compromise vaccine efficiency.
Eighty-four per cent of the fridges recorded temperatures above eight degrees Celsius, with maximum temperatures reaching 24 degrees Celsius.
Meanwhile, 58 per cent of fridges recorded temperatures which were at or below 0 degrees Celsius. The lowest temperature recorded was -12 degrees Celsius.
The FETF is a government-provided fund designed to farmers, horticulturists and forestry owners with business costs. It includes three grants to help improve productivity, manage slurry and improve animal health and welfare.
The Animal Health and Welfare grant is only available to farmers of beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, pigs, laying chickens or broiler chickens. The FETF 2025 is competitive, meaning applicants may not receive any or all of the funding they apply for.
MSD Animal Health says that, ideally, vaccines should not be stored on-farm at all.
Paul Williams, technical manager for ruminants at MSD Animal Health, said: “On-farm storage is the weakest link in the vaccine cold chain. Animal health vaccines are extremely fragile, and once damaged, the effect is irreversible – you can’t tell by looking at them if they’re still effective.
“If you’re storing vaccines on farm, you should be checking the maximum and minimum temperatures daily. If they’re outside the 2–8°C range, something needs to be done.”
There is more information about FETF 2025 on the government website.
Image © MSD Animal Health
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
