No Side Effect Case Findings Yet, Government Ensures FMD Vaccine Is Safe For Livestock

Illustration of farm animals/ Photos; Between

JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Agriculture ensures that the oral and nail disease (PMK) vaccine is safe for injected livestock and does not cause significant side effects.

“For breeders, don't be afraid of PMK vaccination. So far there have been no significant side effects. Vaccines are actually for protection," said the official for the Veterinary Authority for the City of Bandung, West Java, Elise Wieke, citing Antara, Sunday, August 7.

According to Elise, until now there have been no cases of side effects in livestock that have been vaccinated against PMK.

“After being vaccinated a few days later we evaluated. About a week after vaccination, are there any side effects or what. So far it's been better than it's been done," he said.

Elise said the government was intensifying socialization and education to eliminate the concerns of farmers regarding the side effects after their livestock were vaccinated against PMK.

“We do socialization to farmer associations, regional or for example with Babinsa. Usually, Babinsa can emphasize more," he said.

He explained that the injection of PMK vaccine in livestock will be carried out after officers under the coordination of the PMK Handling Task Force collect data on livestock prone to FMD that are still healthy.

Officers in the field are required to use personal protective equipment (PPE) to minimize the spread of disease through humans from sick animals to healthy animals.

"We recorded first. After we were sure there were areas that were not affected by FMD, we went there. Animals are examined first, especially the temperature is measured. After being declared healthy, we will vaccinate them,” he said.

Based on data from the PMK Handling Task Force as of August 3, as many as 800 thousand doses of vaccine have been distributed and most of them have been injected into livestock at an early stage. Furthermore, as many as 2.2 million doses are being distributed and started to be injected into livestock.

Vaccination is part of the government's five strategies aimed at limiting the spread of FMD outbreaks and protecting borders between cities within the country and between countries.

With these steps, it is hoped that the red zone of PMK cases will soon become a yellow zone. Then, the yellow zone becomes the green zone, and gradually everything becomes the green zone.