Vaccination of livestock and poultry: Slow progress, low rate.

(Baonghean)Nghe An province has a large livestock and poultry population, but the annual vaccination rate is low and progress is slow.

As a mountainous district, Quy Chau faces many difficulties in vaccinating livestock and poultry. According to Mr. Le My Trang, head of the district's veterinary station, in 2015, the vaccination rate for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) reached 75%, swine cholera reached 80%, while bovine hemorrhagic septicemia only reached 47%.

Despite provincial support, the vaccine supply is insufficient. For example, this spring, Quy Chau district only received 8,600 doses of THT vaccine for cattle and buffaloes, while the entire district has 21,290 animals eligible for vaccination. This has created a sense of resentment among the people. Like other mountainous districts, besides the people's over-reliance and complacency, we also face difficulties with the local people's practice of free-range livestock farming in the forests.

Vaccination of poultry in Dien Phu, Dien Chau

Considered one of the localities with a relatively high vaccination rate, Nam Dan has implemented many decisive and effective measures over the years. Along with effective public awareness campaigns, Nam Dan has built a strong grassroots veterinary system, promptly rewarding communes that perform well while strictly penalizing households that do not comply with vaccination regulations.

However, according to Mr. Nguyen Huu Quoc, Head of the District Veterinary Station, despite efforts, only some vaccines have relatively high vaccination rates, such as THT for cattle and buffaloes at 78%, swine cholera at nearly 90%, and rabies for dogs at 82%. Vaccines for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), Swine Fever (PRRS), and Avian Influenza are very difficult to vaccinate, and are only administered when an outbreak occurs. The entire district has 48,000 pigs and nearly 36,000 cattle and buffaloes, but most livestock farming is small-scale and scattered, and people's awareness is not high. Even small farms raising a few hundred chickens and ducks do not vaccinate all the necessary vaccines. The attention and involvement of the communes are limited; only a very few communes, such as Nam Cat, Nam Xuan, and Nam Tan, have been able to resolutely handle violations in livestock farming according to regulations.

Vaccination is an extremely important measure to ensure the safety of livestock, but the vaccination rate for various vaccines in the province is generally still low. According to Mr. Dang Van Minh, Deputy Head of the Provincial Veterinary Department, the reasons for the low vaccination rate are due to the fact that some district and commune authorities have not resolutely directed vaccination efforts; administrative penalties for organizations and individuals who do not comply with livestock and poultry vaccination requirements have not been strict enough; and the management of livestock import and export and vaccination at farms and breeding facilities has not been effective.

Currently, localities are rushing to prepare for the 2016 spring vaccination campaign, scheduled from March 15th to April 15th, 2016. However, the number of vaccines registered by districts at the Veterinary Sub-Department is very low, only 61.8% for THT vaccine for cattle and buffaloes, and less than 30% for other vaccines such as THT for pigs, DTL, and rabies for dogs. With such low registration numbers, the protection rate for livestock cannot be guaranteed, thus making disease control in localities much more difficult.

To ensure the success of this year's spring vaccination campaign, communes must continue to review and compile statistics on the total number of livestock and poultry in households, farms, and smallholdings eligible for vaccination. They should promptly register to purchase vaccines, and communes with low registration rates are required to re-register to ensure 100% vaccination coverage for eligible livestock and poultry.

Phu Huong