Cyprus is set to receive over half a million vaccines to combat the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
The request was put forward by Maria Panayiotou, the Agriculture Minister of Cyprus to Christophe Hansen and Oliv?r V?rhelyi, the agriculture and health commissioners, respectively. The latter then approved their request.
Panayiotou said that V?rhelyi shall be visiting Cyprus for reasons other than this, but will endeavor to include it in his agenda.
V?rhelyi also said that this was the amount of vaccines available right now. He took to X (formerly, Twitter) to explain that the top priority right now is to help farmers do their job by stopping the outbreak as swiftly as possible. He also mentioned that the EU will support the island nation through other means, such as compensation and funding.
Vaccines were also delivered to the breakaway Northern Cyprus. V?rhelyi said that it?s too soon to tell what kind of impact that has had yet.
The EU also confirmed they will be assigning an ?EUVET? team, who are subject matter experts in this field. Once their job is done, they will report their findings to the Standing Committee on Animal Health. They reiterated that the focus right now is on managing the crisis, regardless of its origin.
