The U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it will temporarily suspend the importation of dogs from Nigeria and 112 other nations including Russia, China, India, Brazil, Peru, and Kenya, citing increase in the number of dogs that are being imported with fraudulent or falsified rabies vaccination claims.
The Centres for Disease Control disclosed this on Monday, according to Reuters.
The CDC disclosed that the suspension of dog imports applies to all types of dogs including puppies, emotional support dogs, and dogs that traveled out of the United States and are returning from high-risk countries.
The CDC added that “temporary action is necessary to ensure the health and safety of dogs imported into the United States and to protect the public’s health against the reintroduction of canine rabies virus variant (dog rabies) into the United States.”
“There has been a significant increase in the number of dogs that are being imported and presenting fraudulent or falsified rabies vaccination certificates,” they added.
They revealed that because of more focused vaccination programmes towards covid during the past year, dog vaccination schemes around the world may have been suspended.
“Given the impact that COVID has had on these vaccination programs around the world, we’re not really sure what our rabies landscape is going to look like in the future,” Emily Pieracci, veterinary medical officer at CDC said.
This could be very true as many Nigeria s do not maintain a complete vaccination programme due to has economy.. This step will affect our economy to some extent , hence, need for Government intervention by reducing the cost of administration of the vaccines and work out a compulsory immunization programme for all domestic animals. Otherwise, the lives of Nigerians too is at risks.