Australia Sends 200,000 Doses of Additional Rabies Vaccine to Bali

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bali received 200,000 doses of rabies vaccine from the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry on Tuesday, August 15, 2023.

The 200,000 doses of rabies vaccine from Australia to Bali is part of the total 400,000 doses that were granted to Indonesia.

Out of all the 400,000 doses, 200,000 doses were used in Bali. The other 200,000 doses were used to tackle the emergency rabies outbreak in West Timor, where the vaccine had started on July 20, 2023.

Bali Deputy Governor Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati, on Tuesday, expressed his gratitude for the vaccine assistance, as Bali is a priority region for the handling of rabies cases.

"Until now, many parties still prioritize and focus on Bali, considering its status that is not free from rabies yet, which is proven by the disease control efforts that continue to be carried out," he remarked.

So far, the Bali Provincial Government has carried out public education, vaccination, elimination, surveillance, movement, and population control of rabies-transmitting animals.

Unfortunately, all those efforts to tackle rabies in Bali Island have not been successful. Even before the vaccine assistance from Australia arrived, the government had allocated 480,000 doses of rabies vaccine for 2023.

"The rabies vaccination coverage on rabies-transmitting animals in Bali Province, so far, has reached 70 percent and according to the joint commitment, there should be no more fatalities due to rabies by 2024," the deputy governor remarked.

Moreover, the Bali Provincial Government has formed rabies alert teams (Tisira) in hundreds of villages in three districts: 148 villages in Buleleng, 30 villages in Jembrana, and 52 villages in Karangasem.

Tisira is the result of cooperation between the Bali Provincial Government and the Australia-Indonesia Health Security Partnership (AIHSP).

With the additional rabies vaccine stocks in Bali, Sukawati is optimistic that all parties would get the expected result of the community being safe from rabies.

"People should live comfortably, and tourists can enjoy their holidays, so the economy increases," he stated.

ANTARA

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