World Veterinary Services (WVS) CEO Dr Luke Gamble will meet the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) in Putrajaya at 5pm today to present the organisation's rabies mass vaccination programme.

Gamble said Penang has also agreed to collaborate to fight the epidemic in Malaysia.

“My presentation will showcase the studies run by WVS in other countries, and I hope DVS will endorse the mass vaccination programme,” Gamble told reporters after attending a dialogue at the Caring Society Complex in Penang last night.

WVS will bring in 40,000 doses of vaccines worth RM2.6 million which is fully sponsored for this flagship programme for zoonotic disease control and humane dog population management, said Gamble.

He expressed hope this pilot project can be implemented within the next six months.

"But the exact vaccination operation can be done within six weeks with a team of 150 to 200 people, who would go around Penang catching stray dogs to vaccinate, mark and release,” Gamble said.

“In May this year, WVS has vaccinated over 35,000 dogs in Bantyre, Malawi within 20 days, so it can be done,” he told the 100-odd crowd.

The mass vaccination programme is aimed at vaccinating a minimum of 70 percent of the dog population in the whole of Penang to stop the spread of rabies and maintain the vaccinated population at that level for three straight years.

'Explain procedures'

Meanwhile , "Stop Killing, Start Vaccinating" spokesperson Joel Gurprit Singh thanked Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and DVS for listening to WVS's presentation.

He urged the authorities can explain the necessary procedures for the vaccine approval.

“We hope the state government can verify the current culling operation method and we urge the media and public to stop spreading unverified information to contain the panic,” he said.

Yesterday, Lim ( photo ) announced that the state was willing to collaborate with WVS to launch a mass vaccination programme to prevent the spread of rabies in Penang.

He met Gamble together with DVS senior chief assistant director Dr Rozanah Asmah, state DVS director Siti Salmiah Tahir and Stop Killing Start Vaccinating secretary Lim Li Lian.

Lim said the state government is open to the alternative approach proposed by WVS but this depended on the availability of vaccines.

“Luke has promised to make the vaccine available but we still need Putrajaya's approval to import it. Hence, Dr Rozanah will arrange a meeting between Luke and the DVS director of general,” Lim said.

"After listening to Luke's presentation on how WVS is doing their work in other countries, we are interested in the alternative programme and we think it not only can prevent outbreaks but also solve the whole problem,” he added.

"We will collaborate to set up a team and plan out the logistics, for instance training and manpower.

“We understand this will take time, around three to six months to do it, but we are ready to go for this.

“We are also ready to cooperate with rational animal activists who can see the severity of the problem,” Lim explained during a press conference in Komtar.

Culling will continue

But until the vaccines are available, Lim said culling of stray dogs will continue as human lives should be given priority, adding he believed Gamble would also agree with him on this.

According to Rozanah, any new vaccine will need to be evaluated before it is allowed to brought to the country.

Although this normally takes about three months, the department will expedite the process to about a month since there is an emergency.

“Penang will run the pilot programme (if the green light from Putrajaya is given) and is up to the other two states to decide if they want to implement it,” she said, also during the press conference with Lim yesterday.