The European Commission is responding to a request from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) who asked for urgent assistance to supply a high quality vaccine for a vaccination campaign against the FMD epidemic due to the lack of available options to obtain in due time vaccines from other sources.
The vaccine is formulated from the antigen stocks stored in the EU antigen bank. The shipment is due to be delivered within the next two weeks. The vaccine will be used to immunise cattle, sheep and goats.
The European Commission is supporting the eradication programme since this highly contagious viral disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals represents a threat to the EU's FMD free status and in particular to its Mediterranean Member States. The EU does not allow imports of live susceptible animals from Algeria and Tunisia or any of their products. Persons travelling from those countries to the EU are prohibited from bringing in their luggage any meat and milk products as they may harbour the virus.
For more information on FMD:
http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/diseases/controlmeasures/fmd_en.htm
