He added that as well as looking whether vaccination programmes should be using the earlier strains, research to try and modify the BCGvaccine to make it more effective may be more successful with the older vaccines.
Designed to boost the immune responses that have been primed by the BCGvaccine, MVA85A has been undergoing human trials for more than a decade, showing it to be safe and to stimulate a high level of immune response in adults.
There is a vaccine for badgers - the BCG jab, which has been used by a number of wildlife and conservation bodies in England, including the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, the RSPB, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the National Trust.