Farmers do not need to be worried about FMD vaccination. As of now, there have been no significant side effectsJakarta (ANTARA) - The government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, ensured that the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine is safe for farm animals and did not cause significant side effects.
“Farmers do not need to be worried about FMD vaccination. As of now, there have been no significant side effects. The vaccine is actually for protection,” an official from the Veterinary Authority of Bandung City, West Java, Elise Wieke, stated during an online discussion on the protocol and implementation of animal mobility to reduce the spread of FMD in Indonesia on Sunday.
According to Wieke, no cases were reported of side effects of the FMD vaccine in livestock based on the evaluations conducted several days after animals were vaccinated.
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She affirmed that the government continues to intensify the dissemination of information and education to eliminate the concerns of farmers regarding the side effects after their livestock were vaccinated against FMD.
She explained that the FMD vaccine is administered after the officers, under the FMD Handling Task Force, collected data on healthy farm animals that are at risk of FMD infection. Officers on the field are required to use personal protective equipment (PPE) to minimize the spread of the disease through contact during interactions between humans and sick and healthy animals.
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"The animals are examined first, especially their (body) temperature. After being declared healthy, we will vaccinate them,” she stated.
Based on data from the FMD Handling Task Force, as of August 3, 2022, as many as 800 thousand doses of FMD vaccine were distributed, and most of them were administered to livestock for the first phase of vaccination. Furthermore, as many as 2.2 million doses are currently being distributed and administered to the targeted animals.
Vaccination is one of the five government strategies aimed at curbing the spread of FMD and protecting borders between cities and countries.
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Translator: Aditya Ramadhan, Raka Adji
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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