Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen has outlined an aggressive timeline to roll out millions of animal vaccine doses, revealing that the first shipment is expected to arrive within days.
Speaking in his capacity as Minister of Agriculture following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), Steenhuisen detailed a large-scale public-private partnership aimed at combating foot-and-mouth disease.
“We are procuring now millions of vaccines. We’ve got three different suppliers internationally that are shipping vaccines,” Steenhuisen said. “The first one of a million is going to arrive in the next five to seven days, and then we’ll roll that out.”
The Democratic Alliance leader acknowledged capacity constraints within the state, emphasizing that the rollout would rely heavily on private veterinarians and animal health technicians.
“We don’t have the capacity at state level to roll it out ourselves. And so it’s going to be a big public-private partnership out there,” he said.
Steenhuisen stated that the government will procure the vaccines and ensure distribution based on a “scientific heat map” developed by the department’s task team.
The minister set clear targets: “Our goal is by the end of this year to have vaccinated 80% of the targeted herds and to have reduced the incidence of foot-and-mouth disease by 70%.”
He expressed confidence in the vaccine supply chain, confirming doses sourced from Argentina, Turkey, and Botswana, alongside locally produced vaccines that he said would be rolled out in the field for the first time.
The briefing marks Steenhuisen’s first major policy announcement since assuming the agriculture portfolio in the Government of National Unity.