Starting from the next year, Belgium will mandate cattle farmers to vaccate their livestock against bluetongue disease (BT) and epizootic haemorrhagic disease (EHD), with the farmers bearing the cost of vaccination. In contrast, sheep and goat farmers will be exempt from paying taxes to the Belgian Animal Health Fund in 2025. The government's decision comes in response to the recent BT epidemic, which highlighted the insufficiency of voluntary vaccinations. There are concerns about the potential reoccurrence of the serotype 3 epidemic and the risk of importing the BT virus serotype 8 and EHD virus from France. The farmers' association Boerenbond expressed approval of the mandatory vaccinations but criticized the government's denial of their request for a state collective vaccine order, which could have lowered costs. They also requested financial aid from the Flemish government to cover vaccination costs.