Combo Vaccine out of stock

[Tracy]

My Minnie is due at the beginning of October. I might see if I can get her done early. I'm in a high risk area due to the large populations of wildies around us, so I definitely don't want to risk her being unprotected.

 

[Hugo's There]

God that's bad! Fifty doses in four hours:shock: - that's going to be impossible - I bet even my vets will struggle to get 50 done in 4 hours and they stand a much better chance than most. 10 or even 20 might be achievable for those without loads of rabbit clients but 50???

This is what I was sent yesterday from a vet nurse - Just wanted to let you know that MSD (who manufactures the vaccine) will be providing practices with a 50 multi-dose vial to help vaccinate bunnies. Most vets will usually order the single dose vials as once reconstituted it only lasts 4 hours and then must be discarded, but at least as a 50 dose vial, some bunnies will still be vaccinated. At my practice we are thinking of holding 'vaccine clinics' so that bunnies don't miss out and we can vaccinate as many as possible with the 50 dose vial within 4 hours. I am telling you as I suspect you will have a number of bunnies needing vacs and this would be a way for you to get them vaccinated. An outbreak for you would be devastating.

I guess if I am willing to pay for the whole bottle then they can vaccinate ours and the rest can be wasted if no other rabbits registered to the practice can use it. But from the above Im not sure if practices are getting more than one large bottle, or are limited to just the one.

 

[Tracy]

Thanks for that info, Liz. :wave:

 

[Bunny Buddy]

Thanks for that info, Liz. :wave:

Indeed. thank you.

I've just worked out the logistics of 50 vaccines. ... if 10 minute appointments, a vet can do 6 in an hour, so only 24 in the 4 hours... so to get all 50 vaccinations you'd need 2 vets working flat out...for 4 hours :shock:

 

[Kermit]

Does that mean that the manufacturer would take a hit on this as it will not be very cost effective? If so it would maybe be worth suggesting to vets that deal with rescues that they could offer some free vaccinations for the rescue rabbits, rather than the overstock just being flung in the bin after it had been opened.

 

[ImoT]

This is what I was sent yesterday from a vet nurse - Just wanted to let you know that MSD (who manufactures the vaccine) will be providing practices with a 50 multi-dose vial to help vaccinate bunnies. Most vets will usually order the single dose vials as once reconstituted it only lasts 4 hours and then must be discarded, but at least as a 50 dose vial, some bunnies will still be vaccinated. At my practice we are thinking of holding 'vaccine clinics' so that bunnies don't miss out and we can vaccinate as many as possible with the 50 dose vial within 4 hours. I am telling you as I suspect you will have a number of bunnies needing vacs and this would be a way for you to get them vaccinated. An outbreak for you would be devastating.

I guess if I am willing to pay for the whole bottle then they can vaccinate ours and the rest can be wasted if no other rabbits registered to the practice can use it. But from the above Im not sure if practices are getting more than one large bottle, or are limited to just the one.

Thank you for that info.

Is this the way they will be doing vaccinations for the foreseeable future then? Or is it just until they sort out the supply?

 

[Hugo's There]

From what Becky said earlier it is until end of October, so just two months.

Of course most of ours are due October

 

[Rab-bit]

I work at a vet practice and as soon as I got into work this morning I rang our wholesaler. They said they have already sold out and won't be getting any more in stock until the end of November. We have 7 doses and I have rang our bunny clients due. Luckily we are a new practice and only one vet. There were only two buns due to be vaccinated but I have 3 of my own to do in September/October :/
I tried to speak to our MSD rep but she never replied

 

[Jack's-Jane]

I work at a vet practice and as soon as I got into work this morning I rang our wholesaler. They said they have already sold out and won't be getting any more in stock until the end of November. We have 7 doses and I have rang our bunny clients due. Luckily we are a new practice and only one vet. There were only two buns due to be vaccinated but I have 3 of my own to do in September/October :/
I tried to speak to our MSD rep but she never replied

Did they say exactly why ?

Call me cynical if you like but I smell a Rat here. They cant possibly not have had an indication of a potential problem long before it happened. Did they make a bigger profit selling overseas than within the UK ?

I am lucky in that my Rabbit's are not due their Vaccinations til next June. But there are going to be thousands of Rabbits put at risk now if there are no vaccine supplies until November.

I hope to goodness that there wont be too many victims of Myxomatosis because of this mess up. If the company have the monopoly on the provision of a product from which they make a profit then they also have a responsibility to make sure things like this can not happen. It's not as though we can go elsewhere for a similar product. There isn't one.

 

[Bunny Buddy]

Did they make a bigger profit selling overseas than within the UK ?

I read somewhere that it wasn't the manufacturer selling abroad but someone buying it off them and selling abroad. No idea where I read it of the validity of it but it does make more sense re the crisis than the manufacturer doing it. Even then there was a huge rise in demand at some point, did they not realise the need to do something.....


Do you know if there are alternative VHD vaccines still available, Jane? I presume the other manufacturers have stopped making them as it wouldn't be worth their while. .. there is confirmed VHD only 20 miles from here and I haven't seen any wildies (where there should be loads) for about 3 weeks now..... More than a little scared for the unvaccinated rabbit population and for the possible increase in demand if those who don't normally vaccinate hear of the VHD and decide to vaccinate!

 

[Hugo's There]

I work at a vet practice and as soon as I got into work this morning I rang our wholesaler. They said they have already sold out and won't be getting any more in stock until the end of November. We have 7 doses and I have rang our bunny clients due. Luckily we are a new practice and only one vet. There were only two buns due to be vaccinated but I have 3 of my own to do in September/October :/
I tried to speak to our MSD rep but she never replied

Are you not able to get any of the 50 dose bottles?

 

[Hugo's There]

I've spoken to my vet again and they too are unable to get any more single doses. They also have no idea how to get hold of the 50 dose bottle and are trying to get hold of MSD

They confirmed this runs until end November

 

[Tracy]

Did they say exactly why ?

Call me cynical if you like but I smell a Rat here. They cant possibly not have had an indication of a potential problem long before it happened. Did they make a bigger profit selling overseas than within the UK ?

I am lucky in that my Rabbit's are not due their Vaccinations til next June. But there are going to be thousands of Rabbits put at risk now if there are no vaccine supplies until November.

I hope to goodness that there wont be too many victims of Myxomatosis because of this mess up. If the company have the monopoly on the provision of a product from which they make a profit then they also have a responsibility to make sure things like this can not happen. It's not as though we can go elsewhere for a similar product. There isn't one.

I agree, Jane. I find it hard to believe that they didn't see this coming and take action sooner, rather than to let stocks get so low so as to create a crisis situation. They have either been totally irresponsible and messed up big time, or maybe there is more to this.

I saw my vet yesterday and she didn't know anything about it, they hadn't needed to order any stock recently so were unaware of the problem. I filled her in with the details that we know (thanks Liz!) and she was going to investigate further. I think it's appalling that MSD haven't been in contact with all practices to let them know the situation, but instead to just wait until the practices need to reorder and then tell them that they can't have any. At least if they know in advance they can make plans before they run out of stock and not just be dropped into a crisis situation of having to quickly set up vaccination clinics for the 50 dose bottle.

My Minnie had her vaccination last night while she was accompanying Scooby in hospital (he's fine - just a dental procedure!). It's about 6 weeks early, but she is covered now so I can relax as far as my lot are concerned. My next isn't due until December, I sincerely hope they've got it sorted by then.

I really hope that people don't lose their bunnies to these dreadful diseases because of this **** up.

 

[Jack's-Jane]

I read somewhere that it wasn't the manufacturer selling abroad but someone buying it off them and selling abroad. No idea where I read it of the validity of it but it does make more sense re the crisis than the manufacturer doing it. Even then there was a huge rise in demand at some point, did they not realise the need to do something.....


Do you know if there are alternative VHD vaccines still available, Jane? I presume the other manufacturers have stopped making them as it wouldn't be worth their while. .. there is confirmed VHD only 20 miles from here and I haven't seen any wildies (where there should be loads) for about 3 weeks now..... More than a little scared for the unvaccinated rabbit population and for the possible increase in demand if those who don't normally vaccinate hear of the VHD and decide to vaccinate!

Unless individual Vets have any held that are still in date then it's unlikely. I know that the manufactures of one of the VHD Vaccines (Anivac) stopped producing them a long time ago.

 

[Bunny Buddy]

Unless individual Vets have any held that are still in date then it's unlikely. I know that the manufactures of one of the VHD Vaccines (Anivac) stopped producing them a long time ago.

Exactly what I was expecting

I agree, Jane. I find it hard to believe that they didn't see this coming and take action sooner, rather than to let stocks get so low so as to create a crisis situation. They have either been totally irresponsible and messed up big time, or maybe there is more to this.

I saw my vet yesterday and she didn't know anything about it, they hadn't needed to order any stock recently so were unaware of the problem. I filled her in with the details that we know (thanks Liz!) and she was going to investigate further. I think it's appalling that MSD haven't been in contact with all practices to let them know the situation, but instead to just wait until the practices need to reorder and then tell them that they can't have any. At least if they know in advance they can make plans before they run out of stock and not just be dropped into a crisis situation of having to quickly set up vaccination clinics for the 50 dose bottle.

My Minnie had her vaccination last night while she was accompanying Scooby in hospital (he's fine - just a dental procedure!). It's about 6 weeks early, but she is covered now so I can relax as far as my lot are concerned. My next isn't due until December, I sincerely hope they've got it sorted by then.

I really hope that people don't lose their bunnies to these dreadful diseases because of this **** up.

Agreed. I'm fuming about it all. It will take practices a huge amount of planning to run the vaccination clinics if they need to get 50 done in 4 hours. They need to know as much in advance as possible, especially if it turns out that every vaccine is precious and mustn't be wasted. In theory my 2 due in September are safe but I'm now worrying about 2 more due October and November... especially as we have confirmed VHD locally It's really not on that we've been put in this situation of stress.

 

[Jack's-Jane]

Just spoken with a CEVA Rep (CEVA made Lapinject). The vaccine is no longer available in the UK but it is in the rest of Europe. So the only way to obtain it is fot the Vet to contact the VMD ( Veterinary Medicines Directorate ) and request a SIC (Special Import Certificate)

https://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/sis/(S(5xndtfti51hpnlkenwaluqff))/default.aspx

I would request this of my Vet if any of my Rabbits were to be due a Vaccination between now and November. Bunny Buddy it may be especially relevant to you as there is that confirmed VHD outbreak relatively locally.

 

[MightyMax]

There are two other manufacturers of the VHD vaccine, Lapinject and Cylap and according to my sources they are both still producing. In desperate cases it would be possible for your vet to get ahold of the VHD vaccine for your rabbits.

 

[Hugo's There]

But if we just vaccinate with vhd now can we use the combined vaccine when it's back in stock?

 

[Hugo's There]

My vet has just spoken with MSD

Apparently the 50 dose bottles are being imported from Europe mid September but it is not 100% guarenteed.

They will be allocated to practices based on how many rabbits they have due for vaccinating.

The reason for the lack of vaccines in the UK is a packaging problem.

Hope this helps

 

[Alicia]

My rabbits are due their vaccinations soonish. I will ring my vets but I'm really worried about this