Unwillingness by farmers to take part could put paid to plans for a trial vaccination of pigs against the Japanese encephalitis virus.
Health minister York Chow Yat-ngok said yesterday the farmers had complained about the trouble of having 'too many pigs on their farms vaccinated within too short a period of time'.
They also raised the difficulty of controlling the movement of pigs during vaccination, the secretary for health, welfare and food said.
The bureau would continue to liaise with farmers in an effort to go ahead with the trial, for which vaccines worth $20 million had been ordered, he said.
The government wants to vaccinate pigs to stop transmission of the potentially deadly virus to humans via mosquitoes. This follows a surge in the number of Japanese encephalitis cases last year, with one death. The virus causes inflammation of the brain, which can result in paralysis, seizures and coma.
There are fears the vaccine could be wasted if the programme does not start soon. It was scheduled to begin last month.