A farm disinfection operation underway. [Mungyeong City]
A farm disinfection operation underway. [Mungyeong City]

Mungyeong city in North Gyeongsang Province announced Thursday that it has launched emergency mass vaccinations of all cloven-hoofed animals and stepped up quarantine measures to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease after an outbreak was confirmed in a neighboring area on Friday, July 3.

The city immediately established a foot-and-mouth disease prevention and control headquarters and has been operating round-the-clock vehicle disinfection at a quarantine checkpoint facility at 20 Sajangno-gil in Mungyeong.

Authorities issued emergency vaccination orders to farms raising cattle, pigs and goats. Inoculations began Saturday, July 4, and by Wednesday the city had completed vaccinations at 20 pig farms in the area, covering 50,310 animals.

Vaccinations are now under way at 701 cattle farms, covering 33,218 head, and 159 goat farms, covering 6,381 animals, with veterinarians and support personnel mobilized for the effort. The city plans to complete all inoculations by Wednesday, July 15.

Unlike routine vaccination campaigns, this emergency drive covers every animal with no exemptions, with all injections administered by veterinarians. A dedicated capture team has been deployed to handle goats efficiently.

"We will do everything in our power to keep foot-and-mouth disease out of our city with airtight quarantine measures," Mungyeong Mayor Kim Hak-hong said. "We ask livestock farmers to actively cooperate by getting their animals vaccinated and strictly following all disinfection protocols."


kbj7653@heraldcorp.com