Pretoria: The national Foot and Mouth Disease Response Plan, developed by a Ministerial Task Team, marks South Africa’s first comprehensive effort to tackle Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in three decades. This team includes experts from both the public and private sectors, such as scientists, veterinarians, and academics, who have outlined clear interventions to combat the disease in the immediate, medium, and long term.
According to South African Government News Agency, Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen announced that the State has already acquired, monitored, and administered two million vaccines from the Botswana Vaccine Institute. The process of issuing permits for private companies to import vaccines as local agents is underway, with Dunevax receiving an import permit for the Dollvet vaccine and an additional permit for the Biog©nesis Bag³ vaccine expected soon.
The department has firmly rejected calls for a “vaccine free-for-all,” citing serious risks associated with unregulated vaccine use. The Minister pointed to recent illegal vaccine importations by farmers in KwaZulu-Natal as an example of these risks, emphasizing the necessity for adherence to established international and local disease-control protocols.
To restore South Africa’s FMD-free status with vaccination, the Minister explained that the country must demonstrate no virus transmission for at least 12 months, as per the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) standards. This requires controlled vaccination rollout, official surveillance, movement controls, and verifiable vaccination coverage.
Steenhuisen warned that without centralized monitoring and State-led control, South Africa risks failing to achieve FMD-free status, which could harm agricultural exports and undermine the vaccination strategy. The Minister noted that the private sector and industry bodies have been involved throughout the process, and the department is committed to collaborating with private veterinarians and animal health technicians as the vaccination rollout continues.