Eastern Cape Vaccinates 63,000 Cattle in Major Foot-and-Mouth Drive

The Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture has vaccinated more than 63,000 cattle in just one week as part of an urgent campaign to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) across the province.

The vaccinations began after the first shipment of 150,000 doses of the Biogénesis Bagó foot-and-mouth vaccine from Argentina arrived in the Eastern Cape late last week. The doses form part of a larger plan to secure one million vaccines to protect livestock in the province.

Provincial officials say the vaccination campaign is already progressing rapidly, with veterinary teams administering an average of 12,000 vaccinations per day in high-risk areas.

Emergency funding for livestock protection

The vaccination drive follows the allocation of R55 million in emergency funding by the Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury last month to strengthen the province’s disease prevention programme.

The Department of Agriculture has confirmed that it has also placed an order for 1.05 million additional vaccines with the state-owned supplier Onderstepoort Biological Products SOC Ltd (OBP), South Africa’s designated producer of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines.

Officials say the combination of imported and locally sourced vaccines is intended to ensure that the province has enough supply to cover its large livestock population.

Teams working around the clock

Vaccination teams made up of veterinary officials, animal health technicians and agricultural extension officers have been deployed across the Eastern Cape to carry out the programme.

According to the department, these teams are working around the clock to reach farms and communal grazing areas as quickly as possible.

The rollout is prioritising high-risk municipalities located along provincial borders, where livestock movement can increase the risk of disease transmission. From these areas, the vaccination campaign is moving inward to other identified hotspot regions.

Authorities say the Eastern Cape has an estimated cattle population of around 3.5 million, making large-scale vaccination campaigns critical to protecting both commercial and communal farmers.

Earlier vaccine deliveries already used

The latest shipment of vaccines adds to earlier supplies received earlier this year.

In mid-February, the province received 2,600 doses from the Agricultural Research Council (ARC). Those vaccines were specifically deployed in the Kouga communal farming area, where authorities sought to protect nearby dairy operations.

Officials said that intervention was necessary to prevent potential outbreaks that could threaten local dairy farms and related jobs in the agricultural sector.

Protecting farmers and the economy

Foot-and-mouth disease is one of the most serious livestock diseases affecting cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals. An outbreak can have severe consequences for meat production, dairy farming, and export markets, making rapid containment and vaccination essential.

The provincial government says the current vaccination campaign aims to protect livestock, safeguard jobs in agriculture, and maintain food security across the Eastern Cape.

Authorities are urging farmers and livestock owners to cooperate with vaccination teams and ensure their animals are accessible when officials arrive in their areas.

The department says the rollout will continue over the coming weeks as additional vaccine shipments arrive and more cattle across the province are immunised.