Concerns raised about slow lumpy skin vaccination rollout in Indo

It could be a long time that markets are closed should the disease reach our shores, the Northern Territory's chief veterinary officer Dr Sue Fitzpatrick said.

In a panel session on animal disease threats at the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association conference in Darwin this month, the point was made that LSD took 80 years to come out of Africa but then just nine to reach Indonesia.

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Professor Wiku Adisasmito, a veterinarian by trade and the expert co-ordinator and government spokesperson for the National Task Force for Handling LSD and foot and mouth disease in Indonesia, provided the latest statistics on the spread of both diseases in his country.

Close to all provinces and districts are now affected with FMD. That amounts to almost 607,000 cases with nearly 15,000 currently active.

The national vaccination coverage is at 20 per cent and only 23pc of available vaccines have been deployed. The vaccination speed rate is 2pc of the total livestock population per month.

For LSD, there are now more than 22,000 cases, and only 222,060 animals have been vaccinated, which is just 1pc of the livestock population.

March cases were expected to surpass February numbers, Prof Adisasmito said.

"One of the issues is Indonesia has 38 provinces and 514 districts which creates issues similar to what we saw in COVID-19," he said.

Prof Adisasmito is also the expert co-ordinator for Indonesia's COVID response.

The need to make sure the instructions of the central government flow through to local districts was a challenge, he said.

Australian deputy chief veterinary officer Dr Beth Cookson, who has just returned from Indonesia, said she shared the concern with the rate of vaccination.

LSD vaccines deployed 12 months ago had not yet been used, she said.

"But we are working to support Indonesia to deliver more," Dr Cookson said.

Australia has also been working with Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste on their preparedness, including campaigns around getting ready for vaccination if it is required and supporting the early detection of LSD.

"One of the challenges under current Indonesian policy is that vaccination is not permitted in areas are cattle are not affected, which means there are limitations in getting ahead of the disease," Dr Cookson said.

Dr Fitzpatrick said Australia's goal would be to eradicate an incursion.

"We will go hard and early, but producers need to reflect on what it means if we do get the disease," she said.

"It is important to have that business contingency plan in place now."

On the topic of vaccination, Dr Cookson said there were several pieces of work underway.

"The first has been to ensure that should we need to respond we have an effective and safe vaccine supply ready to deploy," she said.

"The mRNA trials continue, with the initial research looking at whether it's an effective technology in ruminant species.

"The next part will be determining which parts of the LSD virus are actually causing the immune response. That piece of research is happening in Canada as we speak.

"But to avoid any misconception about an mRNA vaccine allowing us to vaccinate the herd as a preemptive mechanism before we get the disease - that is not the case.

"Under the World Organisation for Animal Health rules, if you vaccinate you lose your LSD-free status and it doesn't specify which vaccine."