The EU Friday announced that it is sending, as an emergency response, a total of 1.1 million doses of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccines to the Algerian and Tunisian authorities, in support of the FMD control campaign carried out following the spread of a new strain of the virus.
The EU in a statement said it 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.
The shipment is due to be delivered within the next two weeks. The vaccine will be used to immunise cattle, sheep and goats.
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, noted the statement.