SERERE, July 2, 2024 – To eradicate foot and mouth disease [ FMD ] and other animal diseases, Serere district has embarked on a mass vaccination exercise targeting over 50,000 heads of cattle.
The vaccination campaign that started mid-last month was officially launched days ago in Sapir village in Ocapa town council by the State Minister for Fisheries Hellen Adoa Abeku and the State Minister of Youth and Children’s Affairs Balaam Barugahara.
The vaccination exercise comes after the district received 50,000 doses valued at Shs 350 million from the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries [MAAIF] in response to an outbreak of FMD in Teso, and Karamoja sub-regions.
Dr. Collins Ameonya, Serere District Principal Veterinary Officer said the vaccination exercise runs until mid-month.
According to Amoenya, so far 31,000 doses have already been administered while the remaining 29,000 does will be completed within the next two weeks.
George Omutoj, a resident of Ocapa town council whose livestock have been vaccinated was grateful to MAAIF for supporting districts affected by FMD.
Omoenya was optimistic that the ongoing vaccination exercise would help reduce cases of FMD in the district.
John Fracis Okiror, another livestock farmer who lost two cattle to FMD said the vaccination against the disease comes as a relief to the farmers who have been spending a lot of money to buy the vaccines.
According to high, FMD vaccines being sold in veterinary drug shops run by para veterinaries and hawkers.
“For you to get foot and mouth disease from either para vets or hawkers, you must part way with between Shs 35,000 and Shs 50,000,” said Okiror.
However, the Serere district Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Serere district, Gabriel Otiira Olaboro asked for more vaccines. “The 50,000 vaccine doses, we received from MAAIF are not enough to vaccinate all the livestock in the district,” he said.
Otiira said Serere district has an estimated147,000 livestock which all need to be vaccinated if the district is to get rid of FMD.
While launching the vaccination exercise, minister Barugahara commended MAAIF for allocating resources for procuring FMD vaccines.
He described it as a big step forward towards a fight against foot and mouth diseases which has been a big challenge to livestock farmers.
He encouraged farmers to embrace the ongoing vaccination of livestock in order to safeguard their livestock from FMD.
However, Minister Adoa cautioned veterinary officers against exhorting money from the public, saying the vaccination exercise is for free of charge.
She noted that the vaccines were procured by government using the taxpayer’s money and given to the districts free of charge and therefore no one should charge farmers money in order for their livestock to be vaccinated.
“Veterinary officers, who are present here, we need to solve this problem [vaccinating animals] on behalf of our people. We must know that we hold these public offices on behalf of the people. Don’t play around with these vaccines. If you do, there might be a problem,” Adoa warned, adding that MAAIF has provided money to facilitate the exercise.
https://thecooperator.news/museveni-calls-for-production-of-more-fmd-vaccines/
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