The national Foot and Mouth Disease Response Plan - the first comprehensive roadmap to decisively address FMD in South Africa in 30 years - has been developed by a Ministerial Task Team comprising experts from both the public and private sectors, including scientists, veterinarians, and academics.
The roll out of the plan outlines clear immediate, medium- and long-term interventions to combat the disease.
Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen said in a statement on Wednesday, the State had already acquired, monitored and administered two million vaccines from the Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI) to date.
The issuing of permits for private companies to import vaccines, as local agents, has already commenced.
“Import permits for the Dollvet vaccine was issued to Dunevax and an additional import permit to import the Biogénesis Bagó vaccine is imminent,” said the Minister.
The department rejected calls for what it described as a “vaccine free-for-all”, warning that such an approach was reckless and contrary to established international and local disease-control protocols.
The Minister highlighted the recent illegal importation of vaccines into KwaZulu-Natal by certain farmers as an example of the serious risks posed by unregulated vaccine use.
The scientific pathway to restoring South Africa’s FMD-free status with vaccination is clear and guided by international standards set by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), he said.
“In order to regain the ‘FMD-free status with vaccination’ from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), South Africa must prove there has been no virus transmission for at least 12 months. This requires a strictly controlled vaccination rollout; official surveillance; strict movement controls and systematic vaccination coverage that is able to be documented and verified,” the Minister said.
Without centralised monitoring and State-led control over the process, Steenhuisen warned that the country risks failing to achieve FMD-free status, causing long-term damage to agricultural exports, and negating the entire strategy of vaccination.
The Minister stressed that the private sector and industry bodies have been included throughout the process, from the initial FMD lekgotla, to participation in the Ministerial Task Team, and now through the FMD Industry Coordination Council. The department has also committed to working with private veterinarians and animal health technicians as the vaccination rollout progresses. – SAnews.gov.za
