Call to vaccinate ahead of Spring Carnival growing stronger (23 September 2007)

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Calls to vaccinate Victoria's racehorse population against equine influenza (EI) have gathered momentum as the disease was confirmed in Sydney's second largest training establishment at Warwick Farm.

Federal Agriculture minister Peter McGauran said he would recommend all horses competing in the Melbourne Spring Carnival were inoculated with the first shipment of 50,000 vials of a vaccine due in Australia next week.

"Victoria should also consider stabling all the spring carnival horses at Flemington.
"The initial order is for 50,000 vaccines and I intend to order more than the 50,000 vials to prepare for mass vaccination."

The spring carnival, which peaks with the iconic Melbourne Cup in November, generates more than A$600m ($710.56 million) annually to the Victorian economy.

McGauran and New South Wales Primary Industries minister Ian Macdonald defended the decision not to vaccinate earlier, saying the strain of virus needed to be identified before inoculation.

Macdonald said NSW and Queensland, the two states with EI, would have priority. A restricted meeting at Rosehill yesterday for horses trained there and at Warwick Farm was abandoned when the news of the Warwick Farm outbreak came through.

Horses at Rosehill, the only one of Sydney's three training establishments which is EI-free, will be among the first treated with the GE modified vaccine. It is expected the virus will spread quickly through the 500 horses at Warwick Farm. AAP