Overview
- Government says vaccines have reached all provinces and hundreds of thousands of animals are being vaccinated weekly toward an 80% herd coverage target by December, with a public demonstration and briefing set for March 7 in Gauteng.
- Minister John Steenhuisen confirmed the state will pay the full vaccination cost, rejecting claims of profiteering and explaining that logistics, cold-chain management and distribution account for expenses beyond the R45 bulk dose price.
- Supply has been bolstered by 1 million doses from Biogénesis Bagó and 1.5 million from Dollvet imported via Dunevax Biotech, with further consignments scheduled to sustain the rollout.
- Under the Animal Diseases Act, private veterinarians can register to administer vaccines, a shift already boosting capacity as shown by 34 practitioners in KwaZulu‑Natal vaccinating about 50,000 cattle in a day.
- Authorities are confronting a nationwide outbreak reported at 935 incidents, with an estimated 28 million doses required to complete two rounds for the roughly 14 million‑head national herd.