Ecuador began vaccinating more than 4.6 million cattle against foot-and-mouth disease on May 17, 2023. Photo: Courtesy / MAG
The vaccination campaign against foot-and-mouth disease will cover more than 4.6 million cattle and buffalo animals in Ecuador.
Immunization began on May 17 and will end on June 30, 2023reported the Ministry of Agriculture (MAG). Initially, El MAG announced that the campaign would begin on May 5, but it was postponed.
The campaign is in charge of the MAG, through the Phytosanitary and Zoosanitary Regulation and Control Agency (Agrocalidad).
Agrocalidad distributed 1,200 brigade members, who will tour the continental territory in these 45 days to inoculate all cattle and buffaloes.
This 2023 campaign will reinforce the country in the control of this disease in cattle in Ecuador. The country has been declared a nation free of foot-and-mouth disease, but with vaccination since 2015.
A country free of foot-and-mouth disease
The Minister of Agriculture, Eduardo Izaguirre, indicated that in more than 140 months there have been no outbreaks of fever foot-and-mouth the last bud contagious if registered in August 2011, according to MAG.
The non-existence of the disease for more than 10 years allows the raising of healthy cattle to produce quality meat and milk, for consumption in Ecuador and the world, he indicated.
In 2022 there was a historic vaccination, because the coverage was 4,796,946 animals. This represented an immunization of 103.67% nationwide. The vaccine reached the animals of 284,705 farmers.
“These actions are vital to boost livestock production and strengthen the opening of markets,” said Patricio Almeida, executive director of Agrocalidad.
The status as a country free of foot-and-mouth disease has also been maintained since 2015, granted by the World Organization for Animal Health.
At the end of 2022, the Agency carried out samples in cattle to determine whether or not there was circulation of the foot-and-mouth disease virus in the northern part of the country: Esmeraldas, Carchi, Imbabura and Sucumbíos.
This monitoring was done with the support of experts from the Pan American Center for Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Veterinary Public Health (Panaftosa). The results were the Absence of Viral Circulation in this area.
The MAG and Agrocalidad invite farmers, unions, associations and citizens to join the campaign. To find out the schedule of vaccines in each area of the country, the telephone number 1800 247 600 and the social networks of MAG and Agrocalidad are available.
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2023-05-19 00:14:00
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