Indonesia to Import 14 Million FMD Vaccine Doses to End Prolonged Outbreak

TheIndonesia.id - The Indonesian government will import other 14 million doses of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine as the country continues its fight against the outbreak, a ministry official has confirmed.

Director of animal health at the Ministry of Agriculture Nuryani Zainuddin said in order to prevent further transmission of the viral disease, authorities will import up to 14 million doses of FMD vaccines to be distributed to regions across the country.

“We are in the process of importing the second [batch] that consists of 14 million doses,” Zainuddin said on Thursday, August 18, as reported by Antara.

She also revealed that the vaccine doses will arrive in October at the latest and will be immediately administered to livestock upon its arrival.

According to her, the government’s priority now to vaccinate healthy livestock in provinces where FMD cases have been confirmed.

“Currently, there are 24 provinces that have been infected with FMD, so all of them become our priority to get vaccines,” Zainuddin explained.

However, due to limited availability, the government puts more focus on vaccinating cattle because they are among the most vulnerable animals and often show visible symptoms. However, vaccines will also be administered to other livestock like goats, sheep, and pigs as long as they face high risk, including being located nearby sick animals.

Furthermore, government also focuses vaccination on livestock that will be kept for a long time, such as dairy cattle, as well as livestock with high economic value.

“Since the vaccines are still limited, we are prioritizing regions which are also farming centers, including East Java, West Java, and Central Java,” Zainuddin said.

Previously, the Indonesian government had confirmed that it would import three million vaccine doses for FMD that had 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 also pledged to send one million FMD vaccines to Indonesia this month as part of the commitment to support national effort to contain the current FMD outbreak.