So far about 500 000 animals have been
slaughtered in Britain to contain the
epidemic, and about 300 000 more are going to be. It might go higher. But this is about the number of deaths that
meat-eaters cause in one
week.
Also the reason vaccination can only be used as a last resort is that animals could not be exported, because they might harbour the virus and come in contact with unvaccinated animals. If they stayed in Britain they'd be healthy and harmless. They say they have to be slaughtered after they're vaccinated, but that's only because they might still be carriers and so can't be exported. Only when the last possible carrier is dead can the country be declared disease-free.
Where is Britain's meet exported to? Surely not America or Australia or other countries worried about staying disease-free. Haven't they got enough ranches of their own? Within the EU then? So wouldn't it be better if all European countries vaccinated, even if it does have to be every six months or so? Or are the exports to countries where it's more likely to be endemic already? Vaccination is costly, but when a disaster happens, new costly systems are put in to try to prevent it again.
There is not a public health problem. There is not a food supply problem (farms in less than half of England are in danger, and most of Scotland is unaffected). There is not an animal welfare problem (being killed by a bolt gun is their fate anyway). It's an economic problem, and although agriculture is suffering, agriculture's not nearly as important as tourism, which really is being devastated in the worst-affected areas, Devon and the Lake District. It's still safe to go there, just stick to the roads and don't take short-cuts across fields.