Government adopts strategy to make England bovine TB-free by 2038

LONDON, Nov. 5 — The British government formally adopted a long-term strategy on Nov. 5 aimed at eradicating bovine tuberculosis from England by 2038, with an ambition to deploy cattle vaccination by 2030 and to roll out badger vaccination in priority areas, the government said.²

The government said new TB herd breakdowns in England were down by a fifth compared with the previous 12 months.² It said 2026 was the first year in more than a decade in which no badgers were culled to control the disease.²

The strategy, developed through a co-design process led by the Steering Group of the Bovine TB Partnership for England, was originally published in June, the government said.² The document describes itself as a recommended strategy that is "not an operational delivery plan" and does not prescribe funding decisions or financial commitments.¹

According to the Bovine TB control strategy for England, the share of herds not officially TB free fell from a peak of 6.4% at the end of April 2018 to 3.5% at the end of December 2025.¹ The document says the government spends over 100 million pounds sterling (about $135 million) a year in England on bovine TB.¹

The strategy recommends making interferon-gamma blood testing compulsory in Officially Bovine TB-Free Withdrawn breakdowns in England.¹ It also recommends that resolved inconclusive reactors, which are cattle that gave an inconclusive skin test result and then tested negative on a re-test, remain permanently restricted to the farm where they were identified.¹

The document notes that the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 still permits licensing of lethal badger control "for the purpose of preventing the spread of disease".¹ It recommends that the government develop a framework to inform future decisions about lethal badger control.¹

"No farmer should have to accept this disease as an unavoidable part of their livelihood," Biosecurity Minister Hayman said.²

The Animal and Plant Health Agency's field trials of the cattle vaccine and a test that detects infected animals among vaccinated ones are due to finish in 2026, the strategy says.¹ A new industry-government board to oversee delivery is expected to be established in 2027, the government said.²