SA needs 28 million vaccines at no cost to farmer to stop FMD, Steenhuisen says

Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen at the Karan Beef Feedlot as part of visits to foot-and-mouth disease vaccination sites on 23 June 2025 in Heidelberg. Picture: Gallo Images/OJ Koloti Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen says the country will need 28 million vaccines at no cost to the farmer to stop the foot and mouth disease (FMD) crisis in the country., Steenhuisen made the remarks during the Gauteng leg of the national mass vaccination rollout in Ekurhuleni. He was joined by MEC Vuyiswa Ramokgopa as the day began with an engagement session at Suikerbos Nature Reserve, with Farmers and other stakeholders.

Steenhuisen said his department has assessed the current FMD crisis in the country. “Our team, made up of private and public veterinarians, got together and put on the table a strategy, which we are now implementing, the risk-based vaccination strategy. It is our intention that by December, we would have vaccinated 80% of the national herd.

“The figure is 14 million, but obviously, it could fluctuate, depending on what we find once we get stuck into the communal areas, where there’s generally been an underreporting. So that’s 28 million vaccines that are required,” Steenhuisen said. Steenhuisen added that 80% of vaccination is the “critical point for the attainment of what is called herd immunity, and to ensure that his department is able to stop the spread and reduce the numbers of outbreaks around the country.

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“We will then continue to vaccinate, then start to slowly compartmentalize the country, and stop vaccinating in certain compartments and other compartments, we will always have to vaccinate, because, particularly, in the interface between the Kruger National Park, and game reserves in Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). but also on our border areas with other countries.” Steenhuisen said farmers will not bear the cost of the vaccines.

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