"During this first period we have vaccinated as best as we could; in all 50 million animals from national rodeos were vaccinated." These words belong to Bernardo Cane, President of Senasa, Argentina's
National Health Service, who was in Rosario a few days ago to explain the problem of FMD in Argentina. He did this in a conference organized by the Argentine Association of Bovine Meat Producers (Aprocaboa).
When
consulted on the success of the campaign, Cane assured, "We are very satisfied, also explaining that good results were reached in a short period of time "although we didn't have all the vaccines in time, as we would
have liked." In that sense, he reminded that the contract signed with Biogenesis, a laboratory that is providing the vaccine, contemplated four million doses per year, and during the first six months of 2001 60 million
have already been used."
Cane sustained that the first stage of the National Plan of Eradication of FMD is only beginning, and added that there is still a long way to go before Argentina gets out of its difficult
situation. In that sense, he expressed that "this plan was designed three months ago and must last four years."
The program includes two phases. The goal of the first phase includes efforts to regain international
trust in Argentina, credibility, "the intangible part"; and to analyze the way to control "the terrible epidemic that Argentina and the entire region is living," as Cane explained.
Cane informed that with this
intention, several tasks were agreed with provincial governments, industry organizations and regional governments.
The second part of the program includes developing a methodology for vaccination, twice a year, in an
intense and organized way, using the relationship that exists among provincial governments, industry organizations and foundations.
According to Cane, a second phase of vaccination has already been launched, and will
begin on July 20 in every department that is ready because of the months that have passed since the first vaccination or because they are cattle departments from the south of Santa Fe, Cordoba, Buenos Aires, La Pampa or
San Luis.
"We are making an evaluation in which we consider that major demands are still to come," explained Cane and detailed, "We must look at more carefulness in moving animals and not its prohibition, great
attention when cattle concentrate at auctions and fairs, because everything we don't do now or turn too flexible will bring consequences in the medium and long term."
When evaluating the situation suffered by
Argentina when the crisis of the disease had just begun, Cane expressed that at that time "there was no organization installed for facing the situation," which caused difficulties in the first vaccination campaign. In
comparison, Argentina is in a better situation than other countries "which have killed 5 million animals", or in the case of Uruguay that "has completely immobilized for the past 100 days."
"We are satisfied with the
situation," expressed the president of Senasa, although he recognized that that the number of focus points is important. "There are 300 that have already been closed, and this shows that a cycle towards stability has
begun. We believe that with the second vaccination campaign over the next few months we will begin to completely stabilize the situation."
The funds
With respect to the government's debts with
industry organizations and foundations, Cane recognized that "there are debts of $2.6 million with 350 foundations and in a few days there will surely be a transfer of funds from the Department of Economy and we will
begin to cancel payments." The total debt is of $5 million, half of which is due.
Cane also pointed out that "organizations and foundations must understand that they are co-responsible for the health process which
means they are much more than providers or promoters of flexibilization, for they are capable of controlling every health measure in order to restrict any movement."
He also sentenced, "We must be conscious that there
are two elements to take into account in order to combat this disease: vaccination and cattle movement. There is nothing else to do in this complicated campaign."
The regional battle
In Montevideo,
Uruguay during July 2-3 the first meeting of the "Cuenca del Plata" group took place; this is the international committee that coordinates the actions of South American countries in relation to FMD.
Among the topics
evaluated were the closure of eradication campaigns in Argentina, Uruguay, some areas of Brazil and Paraguay.
Other issues were also discussed, such as mechanisms for implementing, in the next stage, an international
audit with verification functions. It will work in a characterization zone of 100 kms. in Argentina and Paraguay, the countries where the crisis was originally detected. There, vaccination will be done in common.
"Paraguayans will be able to verify in Argentina and so will Argentines in Paraguay. Our intention is to execute the campaign in certain departments for higher guarantees, as is currently done with the Cotton Boll
Weevil," explained Cane.
Meanwhile, the Pan-American Center for FMD (Panaftosa) is working on the classification of the different types of disease and in the case of Argentina, has already added to the three existing
types a fourth variety of the 2001 in order to achieve a greater coverage of local rodeos.
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