Currently, the government is also developing domestic FMD vaccines to meet the national vaccination demand.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government has imported three million doses of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine to mitigate FMD transmission, coordinator of the expert team for the FMD Handling Task Force, Wiku Adisasmito, has informed.

"The type of the vaccine is in accordance with the serotype of the FMD virus (spreading) in Indonesia and has gone through a conformity test before being disbursed," he said at a press conference on the development of FMD handling, which was accessed from here on Tuesday.

The vaccines that have been approved for import include those manufactured in France, China, Brazil, and Argentina, he added.

"Currently, the government is also developing domestic FMD vaccines to meet the national vaccination demand," he pointed out.

The government is distributing the imported FMD vaccines in two stages, he said.

In the first stage, the government has disbursed 800 thousand doses of the vaccine, he informed. Some of them have been used to vaccinate 540,978 animals as of July 18, 2022.

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Meanwhile, the government has disbursed 2.2 million doses of the FMD vaccine in the second distribution phase -- which is still ongoing.

As of July 18, three provinces have recorded high FMD vaccination coverage—East Java, Bali, and Central Java, which have vaccinated 24,746 animals, 3,559 livestock, and 3,384 cattle, respectively, Adisasmito noted.

However, the vaccination coverage in some provinces is still below 25 percent, he said.

"Hence, we appeal to (the governments of) other provinces to intensify the vaccination program for the animals which are prone to FMD transmission," he added.

He also asked the provincial, city, and district governments who had not reported the current vaccination coverage in their respective regions to immediately submit the data through the National Animal Health Information System (iSIHKNAS) application.

The disease has been detected in 263 districts and cities in 22 provinces throughout Indonesia so far, he highlighted.

Furthermore, he said that all of the provinces on Java Island and a number of provinces on Sumatra Island have been declared red zones, or regions with a high risk of FMD transmission.
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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Uyu Liman
Editor: Suharto
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