We are aware of a new strain of ‘highly virulent’ RVHD2 and have been working very hard to get all of the up-to-date information on this for several months.
As a result, we have issued a communication to both rabbit owners and veterinary professionals to advise that all rabbits should have two vaccinations each year. Both the existing vaccine and the new one. We are not able to use product names in our communications to rabbit caregivers, so apologies for that. To reiterate, our recommendations are now:
1 – ‘Triple’ rvhd1, Rvhd2 and myxi vaccine. This vaccine has been available for several years.
2 – New vaccine that covers RVHD1 and RVHD2, including the highly virulent strain. This is a new vaccine in the UK.
These vaccines can be given from 2 weeks apart, but we advise moving to 6 monthly intervals if and when possible as this means that rabbits get a 6-month vet check also.
We are also aware, however, of confusion among many veterinary professionals because vaccine two listed above is very new to the UK. It has only been available since January 2025, and we expect people to be more aware of it with time. This has been compounded by some confusion about the presence of the highly virulent strains of RVHD2 and the effectiveness of vaccines against them. This means that some rabbit owners have been told that they do not need an additional vaccine when they have asked for it via their vet. We are issuing more communication to the vets to clear this up.
In summary, there is no shortage of evidence that highly virulent strains of RVHD2 exist. If they are not in the UK yet, it will not be long before they reach us from the nearby European countries in which they have been identified. The new vaccine has been tested and demonstrated to be effective against new highly virulent strains. The existing vaccine has not been tested specifically against those strains, but the manufacturers state that they have not seen vaccine failures.
Hence, our recommendation for both vaccines. As the weather warms up, the risk of Myxomatosis increases day by day. The risk of RVHD is high and may be on the increase. We are urging all rabbit owners to please ask your vet to stock both vaccines and book your rabbits for a vaccination with both.
Richard Saunders BVSc BSc CertZooMed DZooMed(Mammalian) FRCVS
18th February 2025
