The Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture has vaccinated more than 63,000 cattle in just one week as part of an urgent campaign to contain the spread of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in the province.
This follows the arrival of the first 150,000 doses of the one million vaccines produced by Biogénesis Bagó of Argentina, which were delivered to the Eastern Cape late last week.
Provincial authorities confirmed that an order for 1.05 million vaccines has also been placed with the state-owned supplier Onderstepoort Biological Products SOC Ltd (OBP). The procurement comes after the provincial treasury allocated R55 million in emergency funding last month to support the fight against the disease.
Vaccination teams made up of veterinary officials, animal health technicians and extension officers are working around the clock to protect livestock across the province. Officials say the teams are vaccinating an average of 12,000 cattle per day.
The rollout is prioritising high-risk areas, particularly municipalities along provincial borders, before moving inward to other hotspot areas.
The Eastern Cape has an estimated herd of about 3.5 million cattle, making disease prevention critical for the province’s livestock industry and rural livelihoods.
The latest consignment of vaccines also supplements the 2,600 doses previously supplied by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), which were delivered in mid-February. Those vaccines were used on a communal farm in Kouga to help protect nearby dairy farms and prevent potential job losses in the local agricultural sector.
Authorities say the vaccination campaign will continue as more doses arrive, with officials determined to limit the spread of the disease and safeguard the province’s livestock industry.
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