Listed as FMD-free Zone, Government hopes Vaccination Eradicated Soon|盼回口蹄疫非疫區 豬隻將不打疫苗

The Council of Agriculture has announced it will no longer offer foot-and-mouth disease vaccines starting July 1 and says Taiwan's status as a FMD-free zone can be restored if there are no new cases in the next year. The first outbreak occurred 21 years ago. The COA also says it will begin another wave of disease prevention work after it stops providing vaccines. Apart from stopping hog farmers from secretly vaccinating their hogs, the COA will also expand inspections.


Infected hogs that have been culled are transported to the incinerator. In 1997, there were outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease across Taiwan. Around 3.8 million hogs were culled, costing farmers over NT$170 billion. Since then, hog farmers have been required to vaccinate their hogs. Last year, the World Organisation for Animal Health moved Chinese Taipei to its FMD-free Member Countries list. With a vaccination rate of over 90 percent, the Council of Agriculture has announced it is pulling the plug on its vaccination program on July 1.

We have been preparing for this day for 21 years. We hope once the vaccination program is pulled, we can apply for World Organisation for Animal Health certification that we are a FMD-free zone. This means we will be able to sell our products more freely in the international market.

The council says if there are no new FMD cases in the next year, the disease will have been eradicated in Taiwan. However, experts say other preventive measures are needed once the vaccines are no longer in play. Apart from making sure hog farmers aren't secretly vaccinating their livestock, the council also needs to make sure farmers report any FMD-like symptoms to the authorities immediately. If not, the council would have to start its disease prevention program over from the beginning.

If there are hog farmers out there that secretly continue to vaccinate their livestock, the disease will go into hiding and we won't be able to eradicate the last vestiges of FMD in Taiwan. That would mean all our efforts would have been for naught.

The expert says the government must train frontline disease prevention workers to recognize early FMD symptoms and animals must be culled as soon as infection is confirmed. In response, the council says it will expand inspections and strengthen peripheral management to make sure Taiwan remains a FMD-free zone.