13,000 doses of Foot and Mouth vaccine lie idle in Nakaseke

By Our Reporter

27^th May 2022

More than 13,000 doses of vaccines that were dispatched to Nakaseke district to vaccinate cattle against Foot and Mouth Disease are still lying idle. 

Early this year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Fisheries dispatched a total of 20,000 doses of vaccines to Nakaseke district to enable pastoralists to vaccinate their heads of cattle against Foot and Mouth Disease.

Fred Rwabirinda the Nakaseke District Secretary for Production explains that the district has been able to administer only 7,000 doses and the 13,000 doses are still lying idle just a month before they expire.

Rwabirinda says that the pastoralists had been reluctant to vaccinate their animals but the district has directed veterinary officers to conduct mandatory vaccinations so that they can utilize all the vaccines before they expire.

Joel Mwine Bashaija, the District Councilor for Ngoma sub-county says that the pastoralists shunned the vaccination exercise because vaccines were brought during the dry season and the animals’ immunity was low due to lack of pasture and water.

Bashaija said that others feared that animals may even die if they vaccinated them around this dry season.

Ignatius Koomu Kiwanuka, the LCV Chairperson of Nakaseke District says that some pastoralists are reluctant to vaccinate their animals because there is no reported FMD outbreak in the area.