Jakarta (ANTARA) - Member of Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR), Netty Prasetiyani, has called for fast and equal distribution of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine for livestock in all Indonesian regions.

"The distribution of the vaccine must be carried out quickly, massively, and evenly in various regions. This is to prevent the spread of the FMD virus, which mutates very quickly," she said in a written statement issued here on Thursday.

According to Prasetiyani, the distribution of the vaccines must be accelerated because Muslims in the country will soon celebrate Eid al-Adha, marked by the Islamic animal sacrifice ritual of Qurbani.

She further said that as of June 21, 2022, the FMD Task Force of the Ministry of Agriculture has reported as many as 214,994 FMD cases in the country.

The legislator warned that the number of infected animals will increase if the government is slow in dealing with the problem.

"This condition does not only cause loss among farmers in villages, but also disturbs the people who will partake in Qurbani. Besides the animals are hard to get, the level of animal health also makes people anxious,” she said.

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Therefore, she asked the government to ensure that adequate vaccine stocks are immediately sent to various regions in the country that have not received the vaccine supply yet.

To handle the FMD outbreak in the country, the Indonesian government has approved the procurement of 29 million doses of the FMD vaccine this year by utilizing funds from the Committee for COVID-19 Handling and National Economic Recovery (KPC-PEN).

"The decision to use the KPC-PEN budget for funding FMD vaccine had been approved. Some 29 million doses of the vaccine will be financed via KPC-PEN," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, informed after attending an internal meeting with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) regarding the handling of FMD at the Bogor Presidential Palace, West Java, on Thursday.

Hartarto noted that the President has also directed relevant ministries and institutions to prepare medicines and vaccinators as well as maintain a monitoring mechanism for the movement of livestock from one farm to another.

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Translator: M Razi, Raka Adji
Editor: Suharto
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