AI Vaccine Stock in the city of Malang is Going Low

MALANG, The preparedness of the Municipal Agriculture Office of Malang to anticipate the spread of poultry disease, such as Avian Influenza (AI/bird flu) and Newcastle Disease is starting to face obstacles.
The obstacles are in the form of the low vaccine stock for the virus. The Agriculture Office needs new vaccine stocks to prepare for this year’s rain season. In early November, AI vaccine stocks reached up to 30,000 doses and ND up to 15,000 doses. “Chances are that based on the availability of our current vaccine stock, particularly for AI vaccine, we can only keep up until this November,” said the Head of the Municipal Agriculture Office of Malang, Niniek Suaryantini.

Remembering that the AI and ND vaccines needed in Malang city are quite high, Niniek said that they will immediately request the central government to send more vaccines. In preparations for the rain season, the citizens of Malang who owns poultry of all kind are instucted to house their birds and routinely clean the houses to prevent virus spread.
Besides housing the birds, to support early detection of AI virus spread, the houses should be placed far away from human activity so to prevent transmission to human. “Our problems so far in Malang, particularly in the suburban areas is that there are still a lot of people that keep poultry in a free-range manner without housing them, therefore it is difficult for us to vaccinate and control the birds health,” she said. Regarding the availability of AI vaccine, the Head of the Livestock Section of the Municipal Agriculture Office of Malang, Susetyorini, said that from an initial stock of 30,000 doses, currently there are only 7,500 doses left at the office.
According to her, there are a lot of farmer groups and citizens through their neighborhood leader and with the help of the field extension officer, on their own will retrieve vaccine from the Livestock Section and vaccinate their poultry. “From 7,500 doses of vaccine left, it is still enough for the city of Malang. But, of course we will still request for more from the central government to secure our stocks,” she said. Besides vaccine, the Livestock Section also provides disinfectants for sterilizing poultry houses freely. Plans are, in the beginning of this December, the Livestock Section will conduct mass spraying of disinfectant and vaccination on poultry. (yuswantoro)

Source : Sindo