Good afternoon,

On behalf of Hon Nathan Guy, thank you for your email.

The Minister is considering your request in accordance with the Official Information Act and will reply to you in due course.

Kind regards,

Millie Carr | Private Secretary
Office of Hon Nathan Guy
Minister for Primary Industries | Minister for Racing | MP for Otaki
5.3R The Beehive, Parliament Buildings
Private Bag 18041, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
T: +64 4 817 9139
E: [email address]
W: http://www.beehive.govt.nz and http://www.parliament.nz

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Stephenson [mailto:[FOI #5050 email]]
Sent: Thursday, 1 December 2016 1:28 p.m.
To: N Guy (MIN)
Subject: Official Information request - RHDV1a-K5

Dear Minister for Primary Industries,

RHDV-K5.
The current advise from the Australian Veterinary Association regarding the Vaccination against RHDV1a-K5 now states.
This experiment indicates that the currently registered vaccine may continue to protect pet rabbits against this disease after release of K5, though further study will be required to validate this going forward. The AVA recommends that rabbits are vaccinated against RHDV (calicivirus) as follows: Kittens: 4, 8, 12 weeks of age, then 6 monthly for life, Adults: 2 vaccinations 1 month apart, then 6 monthly for life, This protocol is off-label. Cylap is not registered for 6 monthly use.

The Current advise from the Australian RSPCA Now states. K5 (belonging to the RHDV1a family). This new strain, which was found to be more infectious than the Czech strain, also causes RHD and death in non-immune rabbits. Of concern is the lack of sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the Cylap® vaccine will provide adequate protection against K5 and that it is not currently registered to specifically protect against this strain. A small pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of the Cylap® vaccine against K5 has indicated some protection but further trials need to be undertaken to obtain conclusive results.

Recommendation by the OIE that any given vaccine strain should be homologous to the strain identified during an outbreak, and releasing K5 as a new strain is basically a deliberate outbreak so the advice stands – in other words, a specific vaccine is recommended to protect against K5

The Australian RSPCA states that Full protection against RHDV1 (Czech), RHDV1a (K5) and RHDV2 requires the development of a 'trivalent' (against three different infectious agents) vaccine using these particular viruses. Research is urgently needed to develop such a vaccine.

So, given the right checks and balances and the wider picture view of balancing the needs of all New Zealanders which does include the owners of 116,000 pet rabbits which contribute over $175,000,000 to the economy.

Why does MPI not fund / foster / promote the research into a vaccine to protect against the actions in the management of Wild rabbits given that they fund research into the virus?
Why does the check and balance not include funding into a vaccine for the virus it itself funds as per OIE directives?
Why are Landcare (funded by MPI) not publicly updating their information on the vaccines ineffectiveness?

Yours faithfully,

Gary Stephenson

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Dear Gary,

Thank you for your official information requests as below.

Your requests will be considered and an answer provided in accordance with the requirements of the Official Information Act 1982.

If you have any questions regarding these requests, please email [email address].

Ngā mihi,

Francesca Ancillotti | Ministerial Support Officer
Ministerials & Business Support | Office of the Director-General
Ministry for Primary Industries - Manatū Ahu Matua
Telephone: (04) 830 1726 | Web: Ministerials Kotahi Page or www.mpi.govt.nz

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Stephenson [mailto:[FYI request #5050 email]]
Sent: Thursday, 1 December 2016 1:28 p.m.
To: N Guy (MIN)
Subject: Official Information request - RHDV1a-K5

Dear Minister for Primary Industries,

RHDV-K5.
The current advise from the Australian Veterinary Association regarding the Vaccination against RHDV1a-K5 now states.
This experiment indicates that the currently registered vaccine may continue to protect pet rabbits against this disease after release of K5, though further study will be required to validate this going forward. The AVA recommends that rabbits are vaccinated against RHDV (calicivirus) as follows: Kittens: 4, 8, 12 weeks of age, then 6 monthly for life, Adults: 2 vaccinations 1 month apart, then 6 monthly for life, This protocol is off-label. Cylap is not registered for 6 monthly use.

The Current advise from the Australian RSPCA Now states. K5 (belonging to the RHDV1a family). This new strain, which was found to be more infectious than the Czech strain, also causes RHD and death in non-immune rabbits. Of concern is the lack of sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the Cylap® vaccine will provide adequate protection against K5 and that it is not currently registered to specifically protect against this strain. A small pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of the Cylap® vaccine against K5 has indicated some protection but further trials need to be undertaken to obtain conclusive results.

Recommendation by the OIE that any given vaccine strain should be homologous to the strain identified during an outbreak, and releasing K5 as a new strain is basically a deliberate outbreak so the advice stands – in other words, a specific vaccine is recommended to protect against K5

The Australian RSPCA states that Full protection against RHDV1 (Czech), RHDV1a (K5) and RHDV2 requires the development of a 'trivalent' (against three different infectious agents) vaccine using these particular viruses. Research is urgently needed to develop such a vaccine.

So, given the right checks and balances and the wider picture view of balancing the needs of all New Zealanders which does include the owners of 116,000 pet rabbits which contribute over $175,000,000 to the economy.

Why does MPI not fund / foster / promote the research into a vaccine to protect against the actions in the management of Wild rabbits given that they fund research into the virus?
Why does the check and balance not include funding into a vaccine for the virus it itself funds as per OIE directives?
Why are Landcare (funded by MPI) not publicly updating their information on the vaccines ineffectiveness?

Yours faithfully,

Gary Stephenson

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Stephenson [mailto:[email address]]
Sent: Thursday, 1 December 2016 1:26 p.m.
To: N Guy (MIN)
Subject: Official Information request - Border Bio Security

Dear Minister for Primary Industries,

Biosecurity and RHDV resilience and transmission.
RHDV2 has rapidly spread across Australia and is now present across the entire Australian continent with multiple direct links to New Zealand posing an incredible risk of being carried by one of the 1,384,432 visitors who arrive from Australia to New Zealand each year. This strain of RHDV2 which is now believed to be a recombinant G1/RHDV2, strain requires fewer virus particle to infect and is most likely the reason it has been able to spread so far and so quickly, posing a greatly increased risk of arrival in New Zealand.

MPI state that the risk of RHDV2 arriving from Australia is seen as low, this contradicts MAF, who state that as RCD spreads throughout Australia the risk of accidental arrival in New Zealand increases. They carry on to state and thereby confirm multiple scientific peer studies, that RCD is a very tough virus that can survive freezing, and remain infective on fabric for over 100 days at 20 degrees C. It is killed by higher temperatures (over 60 degrees C for two days) and sunlight. The most likely source of accidental introduction is on goods, clothing or livestock arriving from Australia. An illegal introduction cannot be discounted.

It only takes one person out of the 1.3 million arriving passengers to unknowingly walk on ground where an infected rabbit has been to then carry the virus to New Zealand.

So the question is how Bio Security will find and stop this virus from entering New Zealand. The virus particle being around 35 to 40nm in size and only a few virus particle on one out of 1,300,000 passengers?

Yours faithfully,

Gary Stephenson

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This email message and any attachment(s) is intended solely for the addressee(s)
named above. The information it contains is confidential and may be legally
privileged. Unauthorised use of the message, or the information it contains,
may be unlawful. If you have received this message by mistake please call the
sender immediately on 64 4 8940100 or notify us by return email and erase the
original message and attachments. Thank you.

The Ministry for Primary Industries accepts no responsibility for changes
made to this email or to any attachments after transmission from the office.

hide quoted sections

Good morning,

 

On behalf of Hon Nathan Guy your request has been transferred to the
Ministry for Primary Industries under section 14 of the Official
Information Act 1982. Please refer to the attached document for
information.

 

Any further correspondence to you on your request will come from the
Ministry for Primary Industries.

 

Kind regards,

 

Millie Carr | Private Secretary

Office of Hon Nathan Guy

Minister for Primary Industries | Minister for Racing | MP for Otaki

5.3R The Beehive, Parliament Buildings

Private Bag 18041, Wellington 6160, New Zealand

W: [1]http://www.beehive.govt.nz and [2]http://www.parliament.nz

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.beehive.govt.nz/
2. http://www.parliament.nz/

Dear Gary Stephenson,

 

On behalf of Geoff Gwyn Director Readiness and Response Services please
find attached a response to your official information act request.

 

Regards,

 

Alastair

Alastair Gilby | Adviser – Official Information Act
Office of the Director-General | Ministerials and Business Support
Ministry for Primary Industries - Manatû Ahu Matua | Pastoral House 25
The Terrace | PO Box 2526 | Wellington 6140
New Zealand
Web: [1]www.mpi.govt.nz

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

This email message and any attachment(s) is intended solely for the
addressee(s)
named above. The information it contains may be classified and may be
legally
privileged. Unauthorised use of the message, or the information it
contains,
may be unlawful. If you have received this message by mistake please call
the
sender immediately on 64 4 8940100 or notify us by return email and erase
the
original message and attachments. Thank you.

The Ministry for Primary Industries accepts no responsibility for changes
made to this email or to any attachments after transmission from the
office.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. http://www.mpi.govt.nz/

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