South Africa launches vaccination campaign to contain FMD outbreak

South Africa has officially launched a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccination campaign to contain an ongoing outbreak of the disease. On Monday, June 23, Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen visited the Karan Beef’s feedlot in Heidelberg, where several cases of FMD were confirmed earlier this month, to oversee the vaccination of livestock. The vaccines used are from a first batch of 900,000 doses that arrived in the country last week. According to Steenhuisen, a second batch is expected soon, and the government will continue to purchase vaccines until the outbreak is fully under control. He also confirmed huge economic losses due to the disease and threatened criminal charges against those who are not following disease control regulations.
There are currently four provinces affected by the outbreak, with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal being the hardest hit.