Newly Injected 100 Thousand Livestock, Task Force Questions Remaining 38,000 Doses Of PMK Vaccine In Lampung

Illustration of cattle exposed to mouth and hoof disease (FMD) examined by medical officers. (Ministry of Agriculture Public Relations Doc)

LAMPUNG - The Task Force for Handling Mouth and Nail Diseases (Satgas PMK) asked Lampung Province to continue to increase the coverage of PMK vaccinations for livestock in its area.

"For PMK vaccination, from three million doses nationally, 138,000 doses were distributed to Lampung," said Head of the PMK Task Force Lt. Gen. Suharyanto at a coordination meeting on handling PMK in Lampung Province, in Bandarlampung, Wednesday night, August 10.

He said, from the allocation of 138,000 doses to Lampung, around 100 thousand doses have been injected into livestock.

"Of the 138,000 doses distributed, around 100 thousand doses have been injected. So that there are still 37 thousand doses remaining, this needs to be increased again and spend the rest," he said.

He explained that although the PMK vaccine is currently still in limited quantities, so that injections are focused on giving the first dose to the entire livestock population, in the third week of August there will be an increase in the number of vaccines obtained from domestically produced and imported vaccines.

"This vaccine is one of the main strategies so that there is no transmission. If East Java can get 15 thousand doses of injections per day, I hope Lampung can also be injected more widely," he added.

Furthermore, although vaccination is currently still prioritized for cattle and buffalo, efforts will also be made to give it to goats and pigs.

"If the vaccination is accelerated, the vaccinating personnel must also be prepared so that there is no shortage. So, it is necessary to cooperate with the TNI and Polri as PMK vaccine providers," he said.

According to him, it is also possible to train students majoring in animal husbandry and veterinarians as vaccine givers to meet the number of PMK vaccine providers when accelerating vaccination.

Coordinator of the PMK Task Force Expert Team, Prof. Wiku Adisasmito, said that Lampung as one of the centers for fattening imported beef cattle, it is also necessary to supervise the implementation of self-vaccination and the application of biosecurity.

"Currently, they are in the feedloader; no one has been affected by FMD, but their losses are quite large due to constrained sales traffic. So, it is also necessary to pay attention to these fattening cows to get vaccinated and need to be quarantined to ensure they are free from FMD," he said.

Based on the latest data for FMD vaccination in livestock in Lampung, 97,223 doses have been injected, out of a total allocation of 138 thousand doses.