Next month, authorities will begin vaccinating dogs in a campaign to eliminate rabies in Bangkok in six years and Thailand in 10.
Six months later, a second dose of vaccine would be given to the dogs and Bangkok should be cleared of rabies in six years, she added. A memorandum of understanding will soon be signed authorising the BMA in rabies-prevention work.
Meanwhile, pet sellers in Chatuchak Market will be informed that a meeting setting standards for pet shops and issuing permits will be held on March 3. If they fail to present permits a week after the meeting, their shops will be shut down.
Chatuchak Market director Arun Sricharoon said a stall for permits would be set up at the market, and shop owners would be required to keep a record of all dogs sold. If they cannot present their permits and sales records later, their businesses will be shut down, he added.
Disease Control Department's deputy director-general MD Somsak Akksilp said the Public Health and Agriculture ministries would campaign for rabies vaccinations nationwide on March 2 and would formulate a plan to make Thailand free of rabies by 2020. Rabies claimed 24 lives last year, seven of them in Bangkok.
