South Africa Resumes FMD Vaccine Production After 21 Years

South Africa has resumed local production of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines after a 21-year hiatus, handing over the first batch of 12,900 doses on Friday at the Agricultural Research Council's Onderstepoort Veterinary Research facility near Pretoria. The move comes as the country battles its worst outbreak of the highly contagious viral disease in decades, which has severely impacted cattle herds and the livestock sector across multiple provinces.

The outbreak, which began intensifying last year, has primarily affected KwaZulu-Natal and spread to Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Free State, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Foot-and-mouth disease causes painful blisters in the mouths and on the hooves of infected animals, reducing milk production and requiring quarantines. While rarely fatal in adult cattle, it leads to significant economic losses through movement restrictions, export bans and rising veterinary costs. Officials estimate the national cattle herd at about 12 million animals, with roughly 7.2 million on commercial farms now at risk.

Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, who witnessed the handover, described the development as a pivotal shift toward proactive disease...