“I hereby announce that Taiwan, Penghu and Matsu have succeeded in ‘pulling the vaccine needles’ [prevention without vaccination],” COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) told a news conference in Taipei. The outbreak cost the industry about NT$170 billion (US$5.5 billion at the current exchange rate), he said. COA Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) said the outbreak in Taiwan began on March 20, 1997, and the timing and virus strain detected suggested that the source was China. Lower pork and pig prices in China resulted in people smuggling piglets from China to the Hsinchu (新竹) area, he said. However, no cases have been reported since the nation stopped vaccination on July 1 last year, so hopefully the nation will be declared as a foot-and-mouth disease-free zone by the OIA in May next year, he said.

Source: Taipei Times July 01, 2019 15:56 UTC