On 1 August, Taiwan resumed vaccination of every hog aged between 12 to 14 weeks against FMD, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) announced on 31 July.

Taiwan News reports that BAPHIQ Deputy Director General, Huang Kuo-ching, said that the measure was taken to prevent the disease virus from spreading after seven outbreaks have been reported from hog farms in the Yunlin, Changhua, Chiayi, Pingtung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu areas since February.

The sporadic cases indicated that the virus had not been completely destroyed following eradication efforts in the aftermath of an outbreak in 1997, Mr Huang said.

The resumption of vaccination means that the day for Taiwan to be listed as a fully FMD-free country will not come in the short run, he added. Taiwan has been working to become a fully FMD-free country after it was recognized by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as an 'FMD-free country with vaccination' thanks to its efforts to eliminate the disease since the 1997 outbreak.

Mr Huang stated that 90 per cent of the hogs around the country have never been given shots of an anti-FMD vaccine since 2005, when the vaccination was fully stopped in efforts to seek Taiwan's FMD-free status.

Further Reading

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Find out more information on foot and mouth disease (FMD) by clicking here.