Latest on vaccination and getting competition up again - 25th October

Wendy Cohen, Thursday, 25 October 2007
ROAD TO RECOVERY – Full of Potholes

A meeting was called today by Department of Primary Industry, Chaired by Graeme Eggleston, to assist us in the Performance and Pleasure horse industry to hold competitions.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Arabian Society, Stockhorse Association, Royal Agricultural Society, Quarter Horse Association, Rodeo, as well as the EFA. All agreed that the difficulties of running competitions under the present conditions created very significant problems.

The EFA NSW submitted a series of protocols and plans in an attempt to negotiate conditions in which we could conduct competitions in the Purple Zone.

We also repeated our request that the government and the DPI urgently consider our need to allow horses to be vaccinated in the Amber and Green zones so that competition could be attended by all our members.

DPI presented the draft of a paper which outlined current thinking and plans which would facilitate the Road to Recovery. In that document it is stated that by “14th November 2007 there will be a large pool in excess of 14,000 horses vaccinated” mostly in the Purple Zone but some also in the Red Zone.

In went on the state, “The industry acknowledges the weaknesses of vaccine as an eradication tool as it does not prevent infection or excretion of EI virus. However, technical advice is that vaccination with Canary Pox vectored Vaccine is an essential element of EI Eradication.”

Under the heading ‘Key Principles : Every attempt will be made to ensure the EI virus is not present in NSW horses by May 2008. Movements to equine events will be on the basis of EI immunity. Interstate movements will be based on the requirements of the state concerned. Equine groups will put infrastructure in place to handle equine events by 31 December 2007 including the development and implementation of vaccination plans for selected horses covered by the organization concerned.”

This all sounds very encouraging but unfortunately it is clear that there are huge POT HOLES to be confronted on the road to recovery.

The first of these is that the present situation appears to allow competitions to go ahead almost immediately in the Purple Zone on the basis that only horses from that zone attend. But the organizing committee is to be held responsible for making sure no one from outside the zone brings a horse to the competition. Also it is their responsibility to ensure that all the horses have either recovered, been vaccinated, or have a blood test to show they carry anti-bodies to protect them from further infection with EI.

The EFA NSW has suggested a series of protocols which will assist in this but these still need to be circulated and accepted.

We know that our members in the Amber/Green zones want to know if their horses can come into the Purple Zone for competition if they are vaccinated. At this stage those people would need to prove that they came from a virus free property. In order to do that all horses would have to either be vaccinated on that property and a period of seven days have elapsed following the second vaccination; or they would have to have had blood tests.

So whilst the buffer zones remain the problems of moving from zone to zone are going to be difficult.

The situation was perhaps best illustrated by the second meeting for the day at which the thoroughbred racing industry asked what would happen if a horse at the Magic Millions Sale was found to be infected with EI. The answer was that the sale would be locked down. The racing industry reps pointed out that no seller would send a horse to the sale and risk lock down.

Tomorrow there is to be a meeting at the Federal level where EFA National will be presenting the difficulties faced by our various organizations in getting competitions running again. It is likely that there will be further discussion about the role of vaccine in assisting the plans for the Road to Recovery. The problems of the leaving and entering various zones as well as interstate travel for horses and riders will also be addressed.

This report is an effort to keep our members and the wider horse community up to date with the state of play. It has to be understood that it is not possible to predict what the next move will be. The difficulties to be faced in the strategy in dealing with EI are very complex, the demands from the various interests are intense. The EFA is keen to serve the interests of all our members and the wider horse community and we will keep you informed of the changing situation as soon as we know it.

Many thanks to Judy Fasher for this report and her tireless efforts to date to support all EFA members and the wider equestrian community. Wendy Cohen