Bulgaria's agriculture ministry is drawing up the country's first plan to vaccinate sheep and goats against sheep and goat pox. The draft is now open for public comment until October 9. Agriculture minister Plamen Abrovski told parliament's agriculture committee about the plan. MPs pressed him on how the disease is spreading, what steps have worked so far, whether emergency vaccination is possible, and how affected farms will be paid back.
Abrovski called sheep and goat pox an extremely serious disease. He said the situation calls for constant readiness, tighter checks, and closer teamwork between the ministry, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, vets, scientists and farmers themselves. The disease is hitting farms hard. It's also disrupting trade and the movement of animals and animal products. Abrovski said every step taken needs to come on time, match the actual risk, and be backed by veterinary expertise.
Besides biosecurity steps, tighter checks and catching the disease early, the ministry's team has also drawn up a draft vaccination plan, Abrovski said. The document is posted on the Food Safety Agency's website so anyone interested can read it and send comments. The minister said such a plan should have been ready last year already.
The plan spells out how the vaccination would be carried out and sets the thresholds that would trigger it. Abrovski urged MPs and everyone interested to take an active part in the discussion. After the October 9 deadline, a working group may meet to finish the final version of the document before it goes for approval.
The minister also gave the latest figures on the disease. Last year Bulgaria had 192 outbreaks, affecting almost 25,000 animals — 24,968 to be exact. This year there have been 39 outbreaks, in the Blagoevgrad, Kyustendil, Plovdiv, Haskovo, Stara Zagora, Yambol and Kardzhali regions, with 4,577 animals affected in total.
Abrovski explained why work on the plan began in August specifically — that's when 18 new outbreaks were found, compared with just five in total over the previous two months. In September, though, the number fell again, to 15 outbreaks.
The minister also said the EU Council of Ministers meets in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday. There, Bulgaria — along with Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Croatia — will push the European Commission to overhaul all its rules on the disease, which he said are badly outdated. He said current rules don't provide any compensation for farmers forced to keep their animals inside the quarantine zone around outbreaks. Abrovski said Bulgaria is working on the problem both at home and at EU level.
The agriculture minister also pointed to a gap in Bulgarian law. He said MPs need to look at the issue: when the Food Safety Agency finds an outbreak and decides to apply the legally required steps, there's no rule letting inspectors enter a farm and do their job if the farmer refuses to cooperate.
Asked by Malomir Vlasov of Progressive Bulgaria whether vaccination will bring in restrictions, Abrovski said that if the European Commission doesn't grant an exemption, sheep and goat farmers will have to keep their animals indoors for 21 days, and trade restrictions will stay in place for eight months after the last vaccine dose.
Rumen Hristov of GERB-SDS said he sees vaccination as a very drastic step and thinks there's no need to rush into it.
Shendoan Halit of DPS asked what happens to farmers inside the restricted zones who are facing real losses. Abrovski said a "de minimis" aid scheme is currently open, with extra funds set aside. The Food Safety Agency will hand over details on all affected farms in those zones, and their owners will get 8 euros per animal — on top of the de minimis aid.