Officials told to secure enough vaccines to prevent future outbreak

President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday instructed his government to come up with fundamental solutions to prevent another outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease next year in addition to ongoing quarantine efforts.

“With an increasing number of travelers moving in and out of the country, we need to do more than just quarantine work,” Lee said in a meeting with related ministers to discuss countermeasures to the nation’s worst ever outbreak of the highly contagious animal disease.

“We must devise fundamental solutions such as antibodies to prevent outbreaks next year,” he added.

Lee’s senior aide for public relations Hong Sang-pyo explained that Lee meant securing enough vaccines to combat the problem.

Agriculture Minister Yoo Jeong-bok reported government plans to procure vaccines for 6.5 million livestock by the end of this month, Hong said.

South Korea has culled some 948,000 pigs and cattle since the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, on Nov. 29. More than 980,000 cows and pigs are set for vaccination.

Despite the nationwide quarantine efforts, the highly contagious disease has rapidly spread across North Gyeongsang, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, North and South Chungcheong provinces as well as Incheon.

Some 6,800 troops have been mobilized so far to assist the government’s extensive quarantine efforts, the defense ministry said Thursday.

Lee called on his government to make thorough preparations to contain the spread of the disease during the Lunar New Year’s holidays when a lot of people will be traveling across the country, according to Hong. The holidays fall on the first week of February this year.

The foot-and-mouth virus infects cloven-hoofed animals such as cows, pigs and goats, causing blisters on the mouth and feet. The virus does not affect humans, but is spread through people and vehicles.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)