PMK Vaccine Has Been Injected Into 1.67 Million Livestock In Indonesia

Illustration of health workers examining livestock suspected of mouth and nail disease (PMK). (Antara-Riski apriyani)

JAKARTA - The Task Force for Handling Mouth and Nail Diseases (Satgas PMK) recorded that 1,672,075 livestock animals had received the PMK vaccine as of Tuesday, August 23, at 12.00 WIB.

The PMK Task Force data received in Jakarta, Wednesday, August 24, informed that FMD had spread to 291 regencies/cities in 24 provinces in Indonesia. The majority of the infected livestock are cattle.

Until now, as many as 506,050 livestock have been infected with FMD. A total of 345,397 tails have been declared cured, 1642,788 have not recovered, 6,890 have died, and 10,975 are conditionally slaughtered.

The details of the sick livestock are 480,353 cows, 19,750 buffalo, 1,821 sheep, 4,083 goats, and 88 pigs. Meanwhile, 345,397 cattle have been declared cured, consisting of 323,990 cows, 13,469 buffalo, 1,259 sheep, 2,576 goats and 49 pigs.

Up to now, there are 142,788 animals that have not recovered, consisting of 134,861 cows, 6,054 buffaloes, 509 sheep, 1,320 goats and 39 pigs.

The Task Force reported that the provinces included in the red zone because there were more than 50 percent of FMD cases were Aceh, Jambi, Riau, West Sumatra, Bengkulu, South Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, Banten, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.

PMK appeared in East Java Province which was confirmed on May 5, 2022.

Ways to prevent FMD include limiting animal movement, monitoring traffic and carrying out surveillance, prohibiting the entry of livestock from other areas, strict quarantine, good maintenance management, improving sanitation, regularly disinfecting cages and their surroundings.

The Government Spokesperson for Handling PMK Wiku Adisasmito targets that the initial PMK vaccination will be completed by mid-September 2022.

For the initial stage, the government has distributed 3 million doses of PMK vaccine which is divided into two phases, namely 800 thousand doses that have been distributed and injected into livestock.

Then phase two, as many as 2.2 million doses are being distributed and started to be injected into livestock.

"More than 800,000 vaccinations have been carried out in the range of June-July 2022. In Indonesia, the number of new cases of PMK is sloping. This shows that vaccines are able to suppress FMD," he said.

In addition to bringing in PMK vaccines from five foreign companies abroad, the government is also cooperating with local vaccine producing companies so that vaccine needs are quickly and easily met.