Australia could help vaccinate for FMD in Indonesia

Indonesia is embarking on a massive vaccination program to control FMD and Australia is offering help to one of its nearest neighbours.

Australia stands ready to help tackle Indonesia’s devastating foot and mouth disease outbreak but will only provide people power if asked.

A Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment spokesman told The Weekly Times should Indonesia make a request for help from Australia to vaccinate cattle “we stand ready to assist in this manner”.

The immediate priority is to find FMD vaccine supplies to vaccinate Indonesia’s 17 million cattle and 10 million pigs.

The DAWE spokesman said the Australian Government was working with Indonesian authorities to find stocks of vaccine to support the country’s FMD control program. That includes giving access to some of Australia’s own FMD vaccine stockpile.

“The Australian Government will provide technical assistance in the form of strengthening Indonesia’s laboratory capacity to aid detection and surveillance of FMD,” the spokesman said.

“Further technical assistance will also be provided to support on-ground control efforts in Indonesia.

“This will include sharing knowledge and advisory support to the areas responding to the outbreak.”

Cattle Council of Australia chief executive John McGoverne said it was possible to control FMD in Indonesia through a range of measures.

FMD had been controlled in Indonesia after an outbreak in the 1980s, he said.

“The benefit to Australia of keeping Indonesia free of FMD far outweighs the cost of the assistance we provide,” he said.

SheepProducers Australia chairman Andrew Spencer said vaccination was only one of the tools to control FMD, but added that Australia should offer whatever help it could. “The sheep industry is highly supportive of measures which will decrease the risk of FMD arriving in Australia,” Mr Spencer said.

“It is a wake-up call for the livestock industry.”

National Farmers’ Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said the livestock industry would continue to work with Indonesia and other nations to reduce the risk of disease spread.

“On-the-ground measures are likely to be particularly effective and we support appropriate government partnerships in this space,” Mr Mahar said.