Indonesia to Start Developing Vaccine for Foot-and-Mouth Disease

TheIndonesia.id - The Indonesian government has started the discussion to commence the development of locally made vaccine to tackle the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in different regions across the country.

The coordinator of national FMD task force Wiku Adisasmito said government has gradually shifted its focus to start developing vaccine in Indonesia while simultaneously importing vaccines from other countries.

“The government is working to develop the vaccine while [also] procuring FMD vaccines from overseas that will work against the serotype found in Indonesia,” Adisasmito said on Tuesday, July 19, as reported by Antara.

According to him, currently, Indonesia already has the capacity to develop vaccines for a number of animal diseases, such as Avian influenza, Newcastle disease, and Gumboro (infectious bursal disease).

And the FMD vaccine development will later be based on serotypes of the virus detected in Indonesia.

Previously, the Indonesian government had confirmed it will import three million vaccine doses for FMD that have undergone suitability test to ensure they can be used against the viral disease in Indonesia.

Those vaccines are Aftopor from France, CAVAC from China, Aftomune from Brazil, and Argentine-made Aftogen Oleo and Aftosa.

The Australian government has also pledged to send one million FMD vaccines to Indonesia in August as part of the commitment to support national effort to contain the current FMD outbreak.

“We’ve prepared one million vaccines for FMD, and we will send them to Indonesia in August 2022,” Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry Murray Watt confirmed during his visit to Jakarta on July 14.