VLADIVOSTOK, August 29 (RIA Novosti, Anatoly Ilyukhov) - A large-scale vaccination program to protect cattle from foot-and-mouth has begun in Russia's far-eastern Maritime Territory, a local agricultural department official said Monday. Alexander Tabachenko said over 150,000 vaccines against the Asia 1 (FMDV-Asia 1) virus had been delivered to the region, and 160,000 more were expected in the next few days. This will allow all cattle at state and private farms to be vaccinated.
The spokesman said more than 2,500 large cattle and 1,000 small cattle had already been vaccinated in the Spassky district, and the program was also under way in the Pozharsky, Kirovsky, and Dalnerechensky districts, where the disease was also discovered.
Quarantine has been imposed in Spassky district since August 26, and all the markets where farmers usually sell meat and milk are closed, a spokesman for the local authorities said.
Measures to prevent the spread of the disease include a move to draw up a comprehensive register of cattle in Maritime Territory, and a ban on free cattle transportation, the spokesman said.
