Low vaccination rate, risk of disease spreading in livestock

Following the direction of the Provincial People's Committee on strengthening disease prevention and control and implementing the first phase of livestock and poultry vaccination in 2025, the whole province organized a centralized vaccination schedule starting from March and completing before May 30, with the goal of reaching over 80% of the total herd subject to vaccination.

However, after nearly a month of implementation, the vaccination results for livestock in Ha Tinh up to this point are still quite low. Specifically, for buffalo and cattle: vaccination against foot and mouth disease reached 25.3%, erysipelas 23.9%, lumpy skin disease 35.5%; for pigs: erysipelas 58.8%, swine fever 59.9%; rabies vaccine for dogs reached 61.9%; avian influenza vaccine only reached 16.3%.

Vaccination results for livestock in Ha Tinh are still low.

According to the provincial Department of Crop Production and Livestock, the main reason for the slow vaccination progress is due to the limited awareness of disease prevention among livestock farmers; some local authorities are still negligent and lack determination in organizing and directing work, and close monitoring of the facilities has not been maintained regularly; the veterinary force is thin, mainly holding concurrent positions, so it is difficult to arrange time and implement a synchronous plan.

The low vaccination rate has caused the disease situation in livestock to continue to develop complicatedly, with the risk of widespread spread. In Thach Ha district, since April 11, Phu Luu commune discovered 3 cows of 3 households in Dong Chau and My Hoa villages infected with lumpy skin disease, causing 2 cows to die, weighing 275 kg to be destroyed. In addition, since the beginning of the year, African swine fever in the district has been "persistent" and has not been controlled, causing nearly 50 pigs to die and be destroyed.

Warning sign of lumpy skin disease outbreak in buffalo and cows in Phu Luu commune (Thach Ha).

Mr. Vo Ta Binh - Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, Director of the Center for Application of Science and Technology and Protection of Plants and Livestock of Thach Ha district said: "With the complicated climate situation, being an area with many old epidemic outbreaks, some localities have livestock and poultry that have not been fully vaccinated against dangerous infectious diseases, the risk of outbreak and spread of epidemics is very high".

It is known that since the beginning of the year, the whole province has had a lumpy skin disease outbreak in cattle in 3 communes of Nghi Xuan, Duc Tho, and Thach Ha districts, causing 7 cows to get sick, of which 3 died and had to be destroyed; African swine fever occurred in 23 communes of Cam Xuyen, Thach Ha, Huong Son, Huong Khe districts and Ha Tinh city, causing 962 pigs to get sick and die, forcing them to be destroyed.

Meanwhile, at this time, the price of live pigs is high, the demand for herd restoration is high; the flow of animals and animal products transported through the area is increasing; the work of ensuring biosafety in livestock farming is still limited... continuing to pose many potential risks of widespread disease spread, difficult to control.

Since the beginning of the year, African swine fever has occurred in 23 communes in 5 localities including Cam Xuyen, Thach Ha, Huong Son, Huong Khe districts and Ha Tinh city.

In order to prevent and limit damage caused by the epidemic, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ha Tinh province has established working groups to directly direct, inspect and urge the work of epidemic prevention and vaccination for the first phase of 2025 in localities.

In Ha Tinh City - the area where African swine fever is currently occurring, after coordinating to review difficulties and obstacles with the working group of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of the province, the city issued a directive document, requiring the prompt completion of vaccination of all types of vaccines before May 10, 2025 (20 days ahead of the province's deadline - PV). Specialized staff were assigned to strengthen disease surveillance to villages, residential groups, and livestock households; promptly detect, report, and handle new outbreaks, absolutely do not hide the epidemic, and do not let the epidemic spread widely. At the same time, strictly handle cases of non-compliance with mandatory vaccination according to regulations.

The Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ha Tinh province has established working groups to directly direct, inspect, and urge the work of disease prevention and control and the first vaccination in 2025 on livestock and poultry in localities.

The industry recommends that localities with outbreaks of dangerous infectious diseases, especially African swine fever and lumpy skin disease in cattle, urgently review and assess the situation and developments of the epidemic, announce the epidemic and focus resources to organize epidemic prevention in accordance with regulations.

At the same time, focus on directing and accelerating the progress of the first vaccination in 2025 for livestock, ensuring that at least 80% of the total herd is fully vaccinated with the right type of vaccine at the time of vaccination according to Plan No. 578/KH-UBND dated December 2, 2024 of the Provincial People's Committee, to be completed before May 30, 2025. At the same time, strengthen state management activities on disease prevention and control, strictly control the trading, transportation and slaughter of animals and animal products.

Ms. Hoang Thi Ngoc Diep - Deputy Head of the Department of Crop Production and Livestock of Ha Tinh province

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/ty-le-tiem-phong-dat-thap-nguy-co-dich-benh-tren-dan-vat-nuoi-lan-rong-post286709.html