Cabinet backs local FMD vaccine production

Cabinet has confidence the rebuilding of local vaccine manufacturing capacity within the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) will help South Africa reclaim its Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)-free status from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

The Agricultural Research Council’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Research facility has resumed production of Foot and Mouth Disease vaccines for the first time in more than 20 years.

The first batch of locally produced vaccines was officially handed over on Friday, 6 February 2026. The vaccine is registered as a stock remedy under Act 36 of 1947 and meets all required standards for quality, safety, and efficacy standards.

Between 2010 and 2018, the ARC undertook extensive research within its existing facilities aimed at strengthening regional vaccine capacity.

The programme sought to identify new candidate vaccine strains appropriate for use within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, adapt the strains for large-scale in vitro cultivation in bioreactors to improve yields, and assess their ability to elicit protective immunity both immunologically and clinically.

Researchers also evaluated vaccine potency and the duration of immunity to inform appropriate field vaccination schedules.

Briefing media in Pretoria on Thursday, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the resumption of local vaccine production marked a critical milestone in efforts to curb the current FMD outbreak affecting more than 14 million livestock in the country.

The outbreak has caused significant losses within the farming sector and threatens the country’s agricultural export standing.

“Cabinet extends its appreciation to the farming community, who have worked tirelessly to complement efforts of the Department of Agriculture to curb the current outbreak of the FMD,” Ntshavheni said.

Black households now 41% of high-income earners

Meanwhile, Cabinet welcomed findings from a University of Cape Town Liberty Institute of Strategic Marketing study, based on Statistics South Africa data, indicating a notable shift in the country’s income distribution patterns.

The study found that the proportion of black households earning more than R75 000 per month increased to 41% in 2024, up from 29% in 2012.

The number of Black South Africans in middle- and upper-income brackets, earning more than R22 000 per month, has quadrupled to more than seven million in 2024. Overall, the total number of people in these income categories rose from approximately four million to more than 11 million between 2012 and 2024.

Ntshavheni said the increase in black remuneration reflected gradual progress in the racial profile of South Africa’s higher income brackets.

“This is a direct dividend of 31 years of democratic transformation through programmes, such as employment equity and Black Economic Empowerment.

“This progress is made in a country that was shaped by institutionalised inequality, where the black majority were systematically discriminated against during colonial and apartheid rule, and earnings were once based on one’s race, through government’s transformation programmes, amongst others,” the Minister said.

However, Cabinet acknowledged that progress remains uneven and not yet proportional to the demographic representation of South Africa’s population.

“Black South Africans still predominate the ranks of the poor and working poor, and millions still live in poverty,” Ntshavheni said. – SAnews.gov.za