Koronadal City—The Provincial Government of South Cotabato received 8,000-vial-anti-rabies-allocation vaccines from the Bureau of Animal Industry, Veterinary Officer-in-Charge Dr. Flora Bigot confirmed.
“We have received this allocation because we have submitted a proposal to eradicate rabies in South Cotabato by 2021,” Bigot said in an interview.
The Provincial Veterinary is ready to vaccinate at least 80, 000 dog population in South Cotabato out of the given rabies vaccines.
Dog vaccines cost P3M, Bigot said.
Based on the record, South Cotabato signified an intention to declared as a rabies-free province in the country in 2021.
In 2017, the Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit reported 18 human deaths because of rabies, the third province with high cases in the Philippines that year.
However, with series of strategies and interventions, cases went down to eight the following year.
“Dog vaccines is still the cheapest and the most effective activity to curtail the spread of the disease,” Bigot said.
Dogs are major carrier of rabies in the Philippines. However, aside from dog, rabies is carried by other animals like cats, cows and even bats.
