Farmers in Mpumalanga have raised concerns over delays in the distribution of the Foot and Mouth vaccination in the province. The farmers have claimed only 33 000 cattle have been vaccinated out of the 61 000 doses received.
The Gert Sibande District has been identified as the district that has recorded more cases of animals infected with Foot and Mouth disease.
Red Meat Producers Organisation (RPO) provincial manager Hennie Laas has called on the provincial Agriculture Department to also enlist the services of private veterinarians in the second round of the vaccination.
South Africa needs 28-million doses of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine this year, in order to take a major step in breaking the back of the countrywide outbreak. https://t.co/MS0IS94lFW pic.twitter.com/eExRQq4J8L
— SABC News (@SABCNews) February 27, 2026
Laas says the system through which the RPO distributes vaccines is very slow, and the joint vaccination programme with state veterinarians needs to be better organised.
“We have received 61 000 vaccines from the RPO, of which 33 500 have been distributed to cattle. However, the combined supply of 61 000 RPO vaccines and those provided by the state is still not enough to meet the needs of the cattle population in Mpumalanga. Our biggest need in the province is more vaccines,” adds Laas.
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