Livestock vaccines to be administered every 6 months for 3 years

A vet vaccinates an animal during a past vaccination drive in Nyandarua County. The government is seeking to vaccinate 21 million cattle and 50 million sheep and goats starting in January. [File, Standard]

The controversial livestock vaccination programme will be undertaken over three years, after which Kenya expects to be free from foot and mouth disease.

This will increase the marketability of its meat products to more export markets. The government is seeking to vaccinate 21 million cattle and 50 million sheep and goats starting in January, a plan that has kicked up a storm and opposition from different stakeholders. 

Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock officials said there are plans to vaccinate cattle against the foot and mouth disease every six months over the next three years as it seeks to eradicate foot and mouth disease among the country’s livestock population.

It is also planning to vaccinate goats and sheep against Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), which will be administered once, which the Ministry noted is adequate to cover the animals for life.

This is even as the Agriculture and Livestock Ministry defended the vaccination programme. It argues that taming foot and mouth disease would open up international markets for local livestock farmers.

The Ministry explained that Kenya is seeking to rid the country of diseases such as foot and mouth as it seeks to increase the options that local livestock farmers have when selling their products beyond Kenyan borders. 

The move has however been opposed, with claims that the programme is backed by foreign entities that do not have the interests of Kenyan farmers at heart and that the vaccines are meant to alter the genetic makeup of the livestock.

There have also been concerns that Kenyans would pay dearly for booster vaccines administered in subsequent faces and even then, their meat products would not be guaranteed access to some key markets that have stringent requirements for imported meat products.

Agriculture and Livestock Cabinet Secretary Andrew Karanja, however, dismissed the claims, noting aside from guaranteeing food safety, the programme also aims at consolidating efforts that have been undertaken by counties separately but due to animal movement, the efforts have not had much impact.

“We would like to have a common approach as a country to diseases, especially foot mouth for cattle and PPR for goats and sheep. What has been happening is that one county vaccinates and the other does not and there is a lot of movement among cattle so it becomes a waste of resources,” he said.

“It needs a coordinated approach so that we are able to eradicate, for instance, foot and mouth disease, or bring it to the minimum.”

“There are no ulterior motives. Some of these diseases restrict our trade in the export markets. If you are not declared a disease-free zone, some markets are not available to you.” He added that the vaccines are locally produced by the Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute (Kevevapi). Karanja also noted that the institute has in the past been producing vaccines for export to countries in the region as well as the Middle East.

“The vaccines that we are using will be made in Kenya. Kevevapi have been producing these vaccines for decades and we have been exporting to many countries in the regions and the Middle East,” said the CS. “They are safe vaccines that have been tested and tried in Kenya and other markets. It is not something that we are getting from another country. There have been concerns and we will engage with stakeholders and deal with these concerns so that everybody is on board.”

Director of Veterinary Services Dr Allan Azegele said the vaccination programme would take a risk-based approach, starting with high-risk areas, especially dairy zones.

“This is a critical disease control measure that is geared towards protecting our animals from these two diseases that have a great economic impact and also affect our access to markets. We will be rolling it out in January,” he said. 

“We will take a risk-based approach. Foot and mouth disease has devastating effects on the dairy herd and we have counties that are predominantly dairy producers, that is where we are going to focus our initial approach for control of foot and mouth,” he said.

“Our ultimate target is to have recognition of freedom from foot and mouth disease. The vaccination will be done twice a year. The current vaccine confers immunity for about six months. If we are able to undertake the vaccination twice a year for about three years, we will be able to seek freedom from this disease and once we are recognised by the World Organisation for Animal Health, the world will be open to us. We will be able to demonstrate that our herd is free of foot and mouth.”

Kevevapi Managing Director Alex Sabuni said the institute has been producing vaccines for more than three decades and supplying to different countries in Africa.