By Akani Nkuna
South Africa has spent R494 million on foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease vaccine procurement and deployment, while nearly 4.4 million animals have been vaccinated nationwide, Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said on Monday.
Briefing the media in Parliament, Steenhuisen said government had secured 13.5 million FMD vaccine doses to curb the spread of the disease, protect food security and safeguard the livelihoods of farmers and workers across the livestock value chain.
KwaZulu-Natal, which has been at the centre of the outbreak response, has recorded the highest number of vaccinations, with more than 1.1 million animals vaccinated. The Free State has vaccinated about 600,000 animals, while the Northern Cape has recorded about 87,000 vaccinations.
Steenhuisen said the scale of the campaign showed the state’s commitment to containing the disease, but he urged provinces and industry partners to accelerate the deployment of vaccines.
“To date, government has already spent R494 million on
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