Overview
- The Agricultural Research Council’s Onderstepoort facility released 12,900 doses and plans to scale output to about 20,000 doses per week by March.
- Officials set goals to cut disease incidence by 70% within 12 months and ultimately regain foot-and-mouth disease–free status without vaccination within a decade.
- ARC scientists say the multivalent vaccine far exceeds potency benchmarks, with PD50 values reported up to 22 and a two‑millilitre dose offering protection for up to a year.
- The state has procured more than two million doses while supplementing with imports from Dollvet, BVI and Biogénesis Bagó after a December shutdown at BVI underscored supply risks.
- Free State farmers remain under quarantine with reported herd losses and severe income pressure, with some alleging private vaccine resales and preferential access for large feedlots.