South Africa secures vaccine to tackle foot-and-mouth

The South African government has classified an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the country as a “national disaster” and has started to produce its own vaccine for the first time in over 20 years.

An initial 12,900 doses have been produced by the Agricultural Research Council as a pilot, with production due to ramped up to 20,000 doses per week in March and then 200,000 doses per week from 2027.

The current outbreak in South Africa is already having a severe impact on livestock producers with more than 24,000 FMD cases reported in domestic livestock in South Africa in the past year, according to the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy.

See also: Biosecurity blind spot leaves farmers exposed to disease risk

South African beef and dairy producers have already faced serious losses with thousands of cattle being culled.

Major export markets, including China, have introduced bans on imports of beef products from the country.

There were more than 800 open outbreaks of FMD in South Africa as of 16 February, with outbreaks reported in all nine provinces.

South Africa’s agriculture minister, John Steenhuisen, said: “To our farmers who have watched their livelihoods disappear before their eyes, I hear you, and I feel the weight of this hardship with you.

“This has been a long, exhausting road, but I want you to know that help is not just coming, it is here.”

Virus strains from South Africa have been sent to the Pirbright Institute in Surrey for further tests to determine which vaccines work best against the three strains which are currently present.

The South African government has also procured 1m doses of FMD vaccine from Argentina, which are due to arrive later this week.

A further 5m doses are due to arrive in March.

Risk to UK

The risk of FMD entering the UK is currently assessed as low, according to the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

There are currently no cases in the UK, but there were outbreaks in Germany, Hungary, and Slovakia in 2025.

Today (Friday 20 February) marks 25 years since the 2001 FMD outbreak in the UK, which devastated the livestock sector and resulted in millions of animals being slaughtered.