Spring fox vaccination starts at the end of March

By: STA Date: 2026. 03. 11. 10:00

🎧 Hallgasd a cikket: Nyelv: Sebesség: 1.05×

The spring vaccination of foxes against rabies will start on March 28, 2026 in the southern and eastern counties of the country. In the affected areas, the authority will also order a quarantine and a grazing ban at the same time as the immunization. The National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih) draws attention to the fact that reporting suspicions of rabies is a statutory obligation and compliance with preventive measures is a common social interest.

From March 28, bait containing the vaccine will be sprayed from small aircraft in the affected areas of the southern and eastern counties of the country. The operation will not affect populated, densely built-up areas. The competent district animal health office and the local government will inform the population about the specific dates for each area, as well as the quarantine and grazing ban. Posters will be displayed in the outlying areas to warn hikers. An informative map of the areas included in the program and a list of the affected settlements broken down by county can also be found on the Nébih website. Nébih checks the effectiveness of the vaccination by laboratory testing of the foxes shot. According to the results of previous years, more than three quarters of the foxes in the areas affected by the immunization took the bait containing the vaccine.

The main spreader of rabies in our country is the red fox, which numbers more than fifty thousand individuals in Hungary

The disease is dangerous not only for wild animals but also for domestic mammals and even for humans, therefore rabies vaccination of dogs is mandatory, and rabies vaccination of cats is strongly recommended. In Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, near the Ukrainian and Romanian borders, 4 cases of rabies were confirmed in 2022, 16 in 2023, 18 in 2024, and 2 in 2025. The disease is believed to have entered Hungary through the movement of wild animals from Ukraine and Romania. Given that Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County has lost its immunity from the disease, since 2022 vaccination has been carried out with double bait density in this county, as long as the epidemiological situation warrants it.

The disease is still present in the affected neighboring countries, which poses a continuous risk in areas close to the eastern border

Maintaining domestic animal health protection measures is therefore crucial: vaccination of wild foxes, mandatory vaccination of dogs, and immediate reporting of suspected cases of rabies to the animal health authority remain essential. In the case of dead domestic animals showing neurological symptoms, as well as wild animals found dead, the animal health authority will take care of sampling. Nébih draws the attention of the public that reporting suspected disease is a statutory obligation.

Nébih