LONDON — Prime Minister Tony Blair today put off a decision on whether to vaccinate some dairy cattle in the fight against foot-and-mouth disease because of resistance from farmers.

The European Union earlier this week gave Britain permission to vaccinate 180,000 dairy cattle in the hardest-hit regions. A spokesman for Blair first said a decision would be made by Saturday, but it may now be put off for several days.

"If we go down this road, we have to take the farmers with us," said a spokesman for Blair, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We have to win them over, and we have to have their confidence that this is the right thing to do," the spokesman said, indicating that a decision on vaccination might be made Monday.

Blair was also struggling today with a question of whether a long-anticipated election should be postponed until the disease wanes. He has until April 6 to make a choice about calling a national election set for May 3.

The archbishop of York, a leader of the Church of England, has joined those calling on Blair to put off the vote.

"There is clearly a very strong feeling in the farming community that there should not be an election at the moment," the Right. Rev. David Hope told The Times newspaper.

An election would be seen by rural residents "as a further lack of understanding and sensitivity to the depth of the crisis," he added.

With 780 cases of the fast-spreading livestock disease confirmed across the country, opposition leader William Hague also urged Blair not to put "party before country" in a time of crisis.

"I wouldn't have an election at this point," Hague said. "I would be concentrating on fighting this disease and not the election."

The government fears canceling the vote would send out the message that Britain is shut to visitors. Ministers have repeatedly stressed that — despite the closure of many parks, footpaths and rural attractions — the country is open for business.

Blair appealed to U.S. tourists on Thursday not to cancel vacations to Britain.

"We love American visitors coming over here," Blair told NBC news.

"Any tourist attraction, virtually, that anyone in the United States will have heard of and wants to come and see, is open. There's not a single town, city, or village, that people can't go into."

Nearly half a million head of livestock have been killed since the disease was detected last month, and at least another 250,000 have been earmarked for slaughter.

Foot-and-mouth is harmless to humans and does not normally kill animals, but it devastates trade because many countries ban meat imports from infected nations.

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British leaders have been reluctant to use vaccination because it would lengthen the time the country needs to regain its "foot-and-mouth-free" trading status after the disease is eradicated.

Farmers' leaders who met with Blair on Thursday said they had qualms about the vaccination plan.

"Vaccination is not the solution in itself," said National Farmers' Union president Ben Gill. "It is part of the policy to take out the animals either infected or on the neighboring farms. That remains the key objective, it is a means to allow us to deliver that policy."

The Irish Republic, meanwhile, got good news Friday when tests on a suspected second case of foot-and-mouth disease proved negative. So far there has been a single case each in the republic and in British-ruled Northern Ireland.

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