Private sector involvement is urgently needed to help procure and distribute the 14 million vaccines needed to achieve herd immunity against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)
By FMD Response SA
The government’s approach to containing the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak needs to be urgently changed, otherwise there is a growing risk of irreparable financial harm to many livestock businesses and associated industries.
The government’s stated commitment to vaccinate 80% of the national herd within a year will not stop the spread of the disease. What is immediately required is a plan that will vaccinate 80% of South Africa’s cattle population against FMD within a six-to-eight-week window.
International best practice from countries like Brazil and Argentina, as well as the views of the country’s leading experts on FMD, point to the fact that the only effective way to eradicate FMD is a mass vaccination drive that achieves herd immunity in tight, synchronised windows of six to eight weeks.
In the four months since the national vaccination drive was announced, only 4 million doses have been imported – against an annual requirement of 14 million for cattle alone. FMD Response SA (a group of pork, dairy and beef farmers and industry experts) are calling for direct private sector involvement in the procurement and distribution of vaccinations. This will help enable widespread vaccination at speed and scale required to meet the crisis head on.
“The current system cannot physically deliver 80% vaccine coverage within the required eight-week window,” said FMD Response SA spokesperson Andrew Morphew. “Partial and piecemeal vaccination against FMD will perpetuate reinfection. A goal of simply vaccinating 80% of cattle by the end of the year will have almost no meaningful effect in achieving immunity for the national herd. What we need is a coordinated vaccination campaign of eight weeks, and that can only happen if the private sector is permitted to procure and distribute vaccines.”
The Department of Agriculture published a Section 10 Scheme on vaccination on 10 April allowing, in principle, for private involvement in vaccination. However, in practice the framework promotes centralised control, relies heavily on bureaucratic processes and creates numerous bottlenecks that will undermine the delivery of vaccines required scale and speed.
In response to the call for public comment on the Section 10 scheme, FMD Response SA has made the following submissions:
- FMD Response SA welcomes the publication of the vaccination framework but notes the scheme does not define how supply is secured or how vaccination outcomes are reached.
- No single entity or channel should have exclusive control over vaccine procurement or distribution, as this creates systemic risk, reduces effectiveness and drives up costs.
- Critically, the framework defines who may vaccinate – but not how vaccination is delivered at the scale and speed required.
- Mass vaccination must take place in a defined, synchronised window, as FMD immunity is timebound.
Evidence is mounting by the day that without rapid implementation of mass vaccination, many farms will become financially unviable, with severe socio-economic consequences extending far beyond the farm gate. The crisis threatens thousands of direct job losses in livestock operations and will result in increased meat, milk and dairy product prices.
If uncontained, the epidemic will also have a devastating impact on rural communities, especially in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, where cattle are the basis of many people’s financial wellbeing.
“The science is clear. Only 80% of the herd vaccinated within two months can avert disaster. There is no such thing as a 50% pass rate for FMD-free status. Without coordinated timing, national immunity cannot form,” Morphew said.
More about FMD Response SA
FMD Response SA is a collective of dairy farmers who want to ensure that South Africa’s cattle are immunised at speed and scale.
FMD Response SA is a farmer-led, farmer-funded, system-focused initiative to make the operational reality of South Africa’s FMD response visible so that it is acknowledged and addressed. It is administered by a steering committee of industry representatives drawn from across the South African livestock value chain. Each member brings direct operational experience of the crisis – as farmers, scientists, consultants and industry leaders. The committee provides strategic direction, ensures the accuracy of all published material, and is accountable for the integrity of the initiative.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of African Farming.
