The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) last week handed over 290,000 livestock vaccines to the Warrap State ministry of animal resources and fisheries ahead of a planned vaccination campaign.
The ministry said it had received 230,000 doses of cattle vaccines and 30,000 vaccines for sheep and goats (shoats). The vaccines were procured by FAO and the vaccination exercise in Tonj East County will be conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
In an exclusive interview with Radio Tamazuj Monday, Salvatore Mayar Mayar, the acting director general in the state ministry of animal resources said vaccinations in Twic and Tonj East counties may begin this week.
“We have a plan for a livestock vaccination campaign for the year 2022 to vaccinate animals against Anthrax. As you have heard on local radios that zoonotic diseases (anthrax) broke out five months ago and it was confirmed by the state ministry of health through the national laboratory so there is a need to vaccinate animals against Anthrax,” he said. “We have vaccines in the ministry for an emergency. For Twic county we have 90,000 vaccines for 90,000 cattle and 30,000 vaccines for goats and sheep, we called them shoats. For Tonj East, we have 140,000 herds of cattle to be vaccinated and 30,000 shoats (sheep and goat).”
Mayar explains, “The vaccines we have received are anthrax vaccines that are comprised of Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), Black Quarter (BQ) and Hemorrhagic Septicemia (HS) these vaccines are for animals, and for small ruminants we have Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP) for sheep and goat pox.”
Mayar appreciated the partners for their support in the procurement and logistics of the vaccines.
He advised the public to avoid consuming meat from dead livestock saying such meat is not good for human consumption.
Meanwhile, Ayuel Kur, Twic county director for animal health said: “We have the plan to start emergency vaccination within this week. Some drugs arrived in Twic county and others are on the way to come from Wau FAO warehouses we have identified Turalei, Wunrock, and Ajak Kuech and have already set up but some vaccination points are full of water.”