"Over 4.57 Million Cattle and Goats Vaccinated Against Foot-and-Mouth Disease"…Antibody Positivity Rate Below Standard, 5 Million Won Fine

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 29th that from October, it will promote the nationwide simultaneous vaccination campaign against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) for cattle and goat farms.

The ministry has been conducting biannual (April for the first half, October for the second half) regular nationwide FMD vaccination campaigns since September 2017.

This year's second half simultaneous vaccination will take place from October 1 to November 11. During the vaccination period, approximately 113,000 farms nationwide must ensure that all 4,571,000 animals under their care?4,111,000 cattle and 450,000 goats?are vaccinated against FMD without omission.

The vaccine used is the currently approved FMD vaccine in Korea, a mixed vaccine of serotypes O and A. For small-scale farms (raising fewer than 50 cattle or fewer than 300 goats), city and county governments will support vaccination by deploying veterinarians and capture personnel (only for goats).

The government fully covers the vaccine purchase costs for small-scale cattle farms and goat farms. For large-scale cattle farms, 50% of the cost is subsidized. Pig farms have their own vaccination programs tailored to their conditions and conduct vaccinations as needed throughout the year, so they are not included in the simultaneous vaccination campaign but vaccinate according to their schedule.

Cattle farmers must promptly report and register individual vaccination status to their local city or county offices or regional livestock cooperatives after the simultaneous vaccination. The government manages the data using the 'Livestock Product Traceability System' to ensure no animals are missed. Goat farmers must manually record vaccination details in the 'Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccination Log' and keep it for three years.

Local governments will test the antibody positivity rate of farms starting four weeks after the simultaneous vaccination to verify proper vaccination. Farms with antibody positivity rates below the standard (80% or higher for cattle, 60% or higher for goats) will be fined (5 million KRW for the first violation), ordered to revaccinate, and retested at four-week intervals until antibody positivity improves.

Park Jeonghun, Director of the Ministry's Animal Disease Control Policy Bureau, stated, "Although there have been no FMD cases domestically since February 2019, outbreaks continue in neighboring countries," and urged, "Since the risk of FMD outbreaks is high during winter, farms must ensure complete vaccination and strictly follow biosecurity measures such as regular cleaning and disinfection of farms."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.