Speaking at the Foot and Mouth Disease Indaba currently underway in Roodeplaat, Pretoria, Steenhuisen revealed that the country’s vaccine reserves had been depleted, leaving authorities with little choice but to seek help beyond its borders.

“The national FMD vaccine bank was depleted. The production cycle was misaligned with outbreak realities. And most notably, Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) currently lacks the infrastructure to produce FMD vaccines at the scale and speed required to respond to outbreaks,” Steenhuisen said.

“As a result, we were compelled to import vaccines from Botswana, to mount even a partial response. This situation is unsustainable for a country with SA’s livestock footprint and export ambitions.”

The two-day indaba, which concludes on Tuesday, brings together key players in the red meat and veterinary sectors to address the mounting challenges posed by FMD, a highly contagious viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs and sheep. Recent outbreaks have significantly disrupted the livestock sector, impacting both domestic supply and SA’s access to international markets.

Vaccine availability has emerged as a key hurdle in managing the outbreaks, with industry stakeholders calling for urgent investment in local manufacturing capacity. OBP, the state-owned entity tasked with vaccine production, has long faced operational constraints, ageing infrastructure and inconsistent output.

Steenhuisen stressed that greater urgency is needed to reform SA’s veterinary services and improve disease management systems. “We cannot afford to be reactive. We need a robust, science-led, coordinated response framework, supported by the right technologies and production capacity,” he said.

--SABC/ChannelAfrica--