By Joseph B.A. Marzan
The Iloilo Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) looks to vaccinate more than 100,000 dogs in the province after a dismal year.
Acting Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Darel Tabuada told Aksyon Radyo Iloilo on Friday that only 30,000 had been vaccinated, or roughly 11.44 percent of the total population of about 200,000.
According to the text of Provincial Ordinance No. 2020-247, dog vaccination dropped drastically from 68.6 percent in 2018 and 20.9 percent in 2019.
Tabuada cited three reasons for the low number: the availability of the vaccines, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and the stopped support from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and private sponsors.
He added that due to the PVO’s heavy reliance on the BAI and private sector support, they only had P1 million originally allocated for 2020, and another P4 million in the regular budget of the province.
The acting PVO chief said these factors “heavily affected” vaccination of dogs in the province.
“First, the availability of the rabies vaccines, considering that the vaccines are coming from the province, and what we were only able to buy on the first quarter of 2020 is [around] 10,000 vials. Second, our municipalities are also hit by COVID-19, so movement is limited, and our vaccinators were not able to move in conducting vaccinations in the barangay level. Lastly, we do not have allocations anymore from the [BAI] and those who have supported us before,” Tabuada said.
He said that since vaccines had already been distributed to the local government units (LGUs) since December, he hoped that they would be able to reach up to 70 percent to achieve herd immunity against rabies.
Regular dog vaccination season in the province runs from January up to April.
“As of today, our vaccination in the province of Iloilo is ongoing. Considering that our vaccine had already been distributed since December. This vaccine can vaccinate 100,000 dogs, so we are expecting that our vaccination coverage will increase this year as compared to last year’s accomplishment,” he said.
PVO data, according to Tabuada, showed that as of January 2021, the total recorded dog population in the province was at 262,214.
This meant that the province needs to inject rabies shots to 183,549 dogs if it wishes to achieve herd immunity.
Tabuada said the vaccine they were able to buy costs only P290 per vial, far from the P400 per vial it had posted for public bidding.
He added that each vial would cover up to 10 dogs to be vaccinated.
Daily Guardian estimated that with a P4 million budget, the province was able to buy around 13,793 vials.
This would mean that only 52 percent, or 137,931 dogs, would be vaccinated, still short of the 70 percent target.
Tabuada said the vaccines they procured can only cover up to 35 percent of the total dog population.
The remaining 35 percent may be covered by the municipalities and barangays, which he said were mandated by Provincial Ordinance No. 2008-072 to allocate P100,000 per municipality and P4,000 per barangay for the rabies program.
When asked which municipalities have regularly complied with this provincial mandate, he only recalled the towns of Oton and Cabatuan.
“That is what we are lobbying to the municipalities, to counterpart the 35 percent. There are also towns who are buying them regularly, because based on our Provincial Ordinance, there should be P100,000 allocation per municipality, and P5000 per barangay for the rabies program. That is what we are asking them, that they should allocate that for the procurement of rabies vaccine and also for the labor of their vaccinators,” he said.
Tabuada asked the public to participate in the anti-rabies vaccination program and to be responsible in handling their dogs to avoid rabies infections among humans.
He cited a rough estimate of 30,000 people in 2020 who visited Animal Bite Centers in the province.
“Rabies is 100 percent preventable, but once one is bitten by a rabid dog or the virus spreads to the brain, it is 100 percent fatal. We are also asking them to be responsible. One of our problems, during the conduct of mass vaccinations is that the owners are not holding on [to their dogs],” he said.
