Farmers, vets, vaccine manufacturers, regulators and researchers came together at the Moredun Foundation to explore why some livestock vaccines remain difficult to access, even when they could help prevent disease, and what can be done to improve availability.
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal is a Patron of the Moredun Foundation and visited Pentland Science Park, near Penicuik, on Friday 23 October 2026. As well as meeting distinguished guests, Her Royal Highness heard from scientists developing new vaccines and diagnostic tests for livestock disease.
The visit coincided with The Moredun Foundation Forum 2026: Vaccine Equity for Livestock which was attended by around 90 delegates. Every year the Forum brings together people from across the livestock sector to explore a shared challenge. This year’s theme was vaccine equity: looking at how farmers can obtain and use effective vaccines, regardless of where they farm or the size of the market for the vaccine.
Professor Tom McNeilly, Chief Executive of the Moredun Foundation, said: “As well as showcasing Moredun’s vaccine work, this Forum brought together delegates to look at the barriers to vaccine access for our farmed livestock. This includes issues with vaccine supply, the cost of development and registration of new livestock vaccines, the withdrawal of more niche or difficult to manufacture vaccines and moving the conversation from identifying what the problems are to what we can do collectively to overcome them. With our long history of working alongside farmers, the Moredun Foundation continues to help bring together the people involved in vaccine development, the vaccine supply chain and end-users to find practical solutions for the livestock sector.”
A whole-system challenge
Chaired by journalist Simon Cousins, the morning panel examined why vaccine availability depends on more than just scientific progress. Research, investment, regulation, manufacturing, distribution, costs and veterinary advice all influence whether a vaccine reaches farmers and is used. A vaccine can be both effective and safe, yet still be unavailable if demand is uncertain, markets are too small or there is no commercial case for making it.
Manufacturing plants were described as operating at around 95% capacity, limiting room to respond when demand changes. As a result of the consolidation among large animal health companies, livestock vaccines compete for investment with higher-margin companion animal products. A new sheep vaccine for a small market can struggle to make the commercial case. Plants built for large batches cannot easily switch to small volumes at short notice, while low margins can make some vaccines commercially difficult to continue.
The planned withdrawal of Bovilis® Huskvac, the UK’s only licensed lungworm vaccine, was discussed as one example. Losing a preventive tool can mean more reliance on drug treatments, with knock-on effects for drug resistance and the farm environment.
The new louping ill vaccine being developed by the Moredun Research Institute exemplifies the scale of commercial investment: the stages described included around £2.5 million for development and a further £2.5–3 million for the assessment of the regulatory proposal by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
Once a batch is produced, the shelf-life clock is running: a vaccine with a 12-month shelf life may have around nine months left by the time it reaches wholesalers, and extending shelf-life claims for a vaccine requires further costly studies.
A recent bluetongue shortage was given as an example of how quickly demand can change. Uptake was low until clinical cases rose, then supply could not keep up.
The discussion emphasised that equity means vaccines are not only registered and authorised but are actually accessible to farmers and that success depends on whether farmers use them and see the benefit.
Speakers stressed that animal diseases do not respect borders and that innovation and practical learning can flow in both directions between markets. Delegates also heard about the Veterinary Medicines Directorate’s published Statement of intent for UK veterinary vaccine availability.
What it means on farm
In the afternoon, Scott Brown, Moredun Foundation Board Member and Chair of the Moredun Foundation Regional Adviser Group, described the impact of vaccine shortages on animal welfare and farmers’ finances, wellbeing and efforts to cut antibiotic use.
Dr Stewart Burgess, Head of Vaccines and Diagnostics at Moredun Research Institute, explained the work the institute is doing to develop new vaccines. His examples included sheep scab, louping ill, barber’s pole worm (Haemonchus contortus) and tick-borne fever (anaplasmosis).
In the laboratories, Her Royal Highness heard from Dr Antonella Schiavone about work on a synthetically-produced vaccine against barber’s pole worm and from Dr David Griffiths about a new louping ill vaccine built from parts of the virus. Her Royal Highness also spoke with scientist Kayleigh Allen about a blood test used to check whether vaccinated animals have developed protection.
Next steps
The discussion raised practical proposals, while recognising that some solutions will take time. Points raised included:
One proposal was to alert the planned loss of Bovilis® Huskvac to policymakers and government, given its role in parasite control and its potential wider effects on wormer use and the farm environment. Longer term, support for farmers to adopt integrated parasite management was proposed, drawing a comparison with support for arable farmers’ integrated pest management.
Another proposal was to make demand clearer, with governments and buyers giving more explicit signals about which vaccines they need, when and in what quantities.
Speakers proposed sharing development risk among farmers, industry and other funders, including through co-investment in scale-up and registration as well as research. One speaker suggested that investing earlier could strengthen commitment to uptake and potentially lead to lower prices.
Speakers proposed exploring more sustainable routes for vaccines developed outside the UK and Europe, without compromising safety or efficacy. A separate proposal was a short grace period to protect suppliers left holding stock they had brought in during a shortage; How this might work is still to be explored.
The louping ill vaccine was cited as an example of shared funding: farmers, grouse estate owners, Scottish Government and DEFRA have co-funded its research and Kernfarm has committed to co-fund the next stage of scale-up and registration, with further funders being sought.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate’s Statement of Intent commits to a five-year UK action plan on vaccine availability.
