By Ebi Kesiena
South Africa has launched a nationwide mass vaccination campaign targeting its entire cattle population as part of a comprehensive government strategy to eradicate Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) and safeguard the country’s livestock industry.
Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen announced the rollout during a visit to Colbourne Dairy Farm near Mooi River in KwaZulu-Natal over the weekend, where vaccination activities were already underway. He described the programme as a decisive intervention aimed at protecting farmers’ livelihoods and restoring the country’s animal health status.
According to the Department of Agriculture, the first major consignment of FMD vaccines, one million doses supplied by Argentina-based Biogénesis Bagó, arrived in South Africa on February 21, 2026, marking the operational start of the campaign.
The vaccines were distributed across provinces based on risk exposure and herd size. KwaZulu-Natal received 200,000 doses, Free State 200,000, Eastern Cape 150,000, Mpumalanga 100,000, North West 100,000, Limpopo 100,000, Gauteng 70,000, Northern Cape 50,000, and Western Cape 30,000 doses.
The department further disclosed that South Africa has secured additional vaccine supplies from Turkey’s Dollvet, with an initial shipment of 1.5 million doses arriving on February 28, 2026. Authorities expect several million more doses from Argentina in the coming weeks to sustain the nationwide immunisation effort.
To complement imports, the Agriculture Research Council (ARC) has committed to local vaccine production, initially producing 20,000 doses weekly, with plans to scale up output to 200,000 doses per week by 2027.
Steenhuisen commended the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for adopting what he described as a “zero-waste” approach, beginning vaccinations within 24 hours of receiving supplies. He noted that the province remains the primary FMD risk epicentre, with more than 1.6 million cattle located in high-priority zones.
He explained that 45 vaccination teams would be deployed daily across multiple locations, targeting up to 90,000 animals per day in an effort to cover the province’s estimated 2.4 million cattle herd.
The minister also announced a shift in disease management policy, stating that authorities would no longer treat high-risk farms as automatically culpable. Instead, only farms showing confirmed or clinical signs of infection would be quarantined.
“We will not stop until FMD is eradicated, and South Africa regains its ‘FMD free with vaccination’ status. This is our promise to farmers, we are doing everything possible to keep your milk moving and your herds safe,” Steenhuisen said.
He welcomed Cabinet’s approval of the national vaccination programme and confirmed that the National Treasury has reallocated approximately R400 million in underspent agricultural funds to support the country’s intensified response against the disease.
