India: Rejang Lebong District Office aims to get 20,000 doses of HPR vaccine – ANTARA News | India news

Rejang Lebong, Bengkulu (ANTARA) – The Agriculture and Fisheries Service (Distankan) of Rejang Lebong Regency, Bengkulu Province, aims to provide 20,000 doses of animal vaccines that provide rabies or HPR.

The head of the Rejang Lebong Regency Distankan, Amrul Eby, when contacted in Rejang Lebong, Sunday, said that the number of HPR breeds of dogs, cats and monkeys in the area is estimated to be more than 35,000.

“For 2025, we are trying to give at least 20,000 doses of the HPR vaccine. If in 2024 there will only be about 15,000 doses, meaning that less than 50 percent of the HPR frequency should be higher than 50 percent,” he said.

He explained that the supply of the HPR vaccine came not only from APBD Rejang Lebong Regency, but also support from APBD Bengkulu Division and support from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Getting the HPR vaccine is prevention, he said, before cases of HPR bites occur that cause the victim to contract the rabies virus.

So far, cases of HPR bites that have occurred in 156 villages/sub-districts in 15 sub-districts have recently increased, as many residents were previously in rural areas. taking their pets to the gardens, especially during the coffee harvest, and after the harvest they returned to their own villages.

“Usually those of us who live on the outskirts and have gardens keep pets such as dogs, cats and monkeys, so they are very vulnerable to taking a- out rabies,” he explained.

For this reason, his party, through the animal health center (puskeswan), has issued an appeal letter and a circular letter from the Rejang Lebong Regent so that residents who keep dogs can be responsible and not release them.

“The people most easily affected by these bites are the owners and their families. We do not forbid keeping them, but they must be responsible, they must be fed and injected with vaccines. We already have free HPR vaccines. the village or you can come to the nearest health center to get it for free,” he said.

Previously, the Rejang Lebong District Health Service said that from January to the end of September 2024, they treated 205 cases of HPR bites that occurred in 15 sub-districts in the district.

Cases of HPR bites in Rejang Lebong Regency were known from reports from 21 health centers across 15 sub-districts. However, there have been no reports of HPR bite victims testing positive for the rabies virus, and all were given an anti-rabies vaccine (VAR) injection.*