This month, MP for High Peak, Robert Largan joined Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to vaccinate badgers near Whaley Bridge. It was a successful morning, with four badgers vaccinated, three adults and one cub.

The High Peak MP supports the vaccination programme, to vaccinate badgers against Bovine Tuberculosis (TB). Using Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), this can enable a level of protection that can help limit the spread of TB to healthy badger populations.

The Government has increased the efforts of the ‘Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme’ (BEVS) and taken steps to ensure that badger vaccination schemes more generally make a real difference in tackling Bovine TB.

The Government is also speeding up work to improve the cattle testing regime and deploy the cattle vaccine as part of a multi-pronged approach to eradicate the disease by 2038.

Robert commented:

“I care very deeply about animal welfare and conserving Derbyshire’s wildlife, and I’m proud to support the local vaccination programme. It is an important part of the effort to tackle Bovine TB.

“I am keen to see the extension of successful vaccination programmes, and fully support efforts to develop a more effective cattle vaccine and to develop other science-based solutions so that culls can soon become a thing of the past.”