The South African government confirmed on Sunday that it has received 1.5 million doses of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccines from Turkey, bolstering its nationwide immunisation campaign against the fast-spreading livestock disease.
According to local media, the Department of Agriculture said the consignment — delayed by recent tensions in the Middle East — is now being fast-tracked into the national distribution network to accelerate rollout efforts.
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen described the shipment as a significant breakthrough in the fight against FMD. “We are taking decisive action to protect our national herd. Every outbreak will be dealt with swiftly, and we will continue our efforts until South Africa is FMD-free,” he said.
The latest delivery follows the arrival of one million doses from Argentina last week. On Friday, the government formally launched a nationwide vaccination drive aimed at safeguarding the livestock sector and protecting the broader agricultural economy.
Further shipments are expected in the coming months. In parallel, the Agricultural Research Council has begun local vaccine production at a rate of 20,000 doses per week, with plans to increase output to 200,000 doses weekly by 2027 to secure long-term supply.
In early February, authorities declared the FMD outbreak a “national disaster” after cases were confirmed in eight of South Africa’s nine provinces. A recent report by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy recorded 24,400 FMD cases in domestic livestock nationwide in 2025, underscoring the scale of the challenge facing the country’s agricultural sector.