ANTI-RABIES. Dr. Marco Rafael Ardamil (right) of the Provincial Veterinary Office says they have received 50 vials of anti-rabies vaccine from the Department of Agriculture (DA). He said local government units are encouraged to allocate funds for their anti-rabies vaccine since the DA provision is not enough. (Photo courtesy of ProVet)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique -- Local government units (LGUs) in the province of Antique are urged to provide funds to buy more vaccines since the 50 vials of anti-rabies vaccines from the Department of Agriculture (DA) are not enough for massive dog immunization.
Dr. Marco Rafael D. Ardamil, who heads the Provincial Veterinary (ProVet) Public Health Division, said in an interview Tuesday they received 50 vials of anti-rabies vaccine last Feb. 7 from the DA.
“The 50 vials of anti-rabies vaccines would be enough for 500 dogs,” he said. Each vial could vaccinate 10 dogs.
Ardamil, however, said based on the 2019 dog population there are 41,033 dogs needing vaccination to make sure the province will have no rabies case.
“The 50 vials of anti-rabies vaccine from DA will be used to priority municipalities of Sibalom and Patnongon,” he said. These municipalities will be prioritized because of the two positive cases of rabies last year.
“The two positive cases in Sibalom and Patnongon were confirmed after dog head specimens were sent to the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Iloilo City,” he said.
He said vaccinations in Sibalom and Patnongon will start at any time as the ProVet is just waiting for the counterpart vaccines from the two local government units.
“We have communicated already with the Sibalom and Patnongon LGUs for their counterpart vaccines,” he said, adding the counterpart vaccines will depend on the LGUs' dog population.
For walk-in dog owners, the ProVet is also ready to vaccinate their dogs at the ProVet office in San Jose de Buenavista.
“We cater to clients who bring their dogs to ProVet for vaccination since we have the anti-rabies vaccines now,” he said. (PNA)
