Surabaya, East Java (ANTARA) - Foot-and-mouth (FMD) vaccinations under the first phase of the cattle immunization program in East Java have crossed the 80-percent mark.
"This is thanks to the hard work of all elements that the vaccination achievement for the first phase is quite high," acting governor of East Java, Emil Elestianto Dardak, said here on Saturday.
Based on data from East Java's FMD Handling Integrated Command Post, as of July 8, 2022, 295,831 of the total 363,400 vaccine doses or around 81 percent of the doses allotted to the province have been administered.
The data shows that some regions in the province have reached 100 percent coverage, while there are still some that have not achieved 60 percent coverage.
Dardak appealed to regions that have not started vaccinations to promptly begin administering them in order to protect animals from the disease.
He asked farmers not to shrink from getting cattle vaccinated as it can provide them protection against FMD.
"Farmers should not hesitate to report if their cattle experience FMD symptoms," he added.
The acting governor said that the first phase of the vaccination is mainly targeting dairy cows because they are at risk and infection spread among dairy cows could have a big economic impact.
"The number of dairy cows in East Java is predicted to reach 350 thousand heads. Therefore, for the first phase, the vaccination is focused on dairy cows, then beef cattle," he informed.
The East Java government has roped in officers from the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police (Polri) as vaccinators for the program to expedite the handling of FMD, which has so far spread to 38 districts and cities in the province.
According to data provided by the command post, as of July 8, 2022, the number of infected cattle in East Java stood at 145,094.
Of the total number, 33,555 heads (23.13 percent) have recovered, 845 heads (0.58 percent) have died, and 1,035 (0.71 percent) have been conditionally slaughtered.
