About 450 heads of cattle were vaccinated in the Western Cape on Sunday.
As the Department of Agriculture continues to take measures to curb the spread of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), the question has been raised whether vaccination will stop the disease.
Angus McIntosh, CEO of Farmer Angus, said he does not know who said vaccination is the answer, noting that at least 2 million animals have been vaccinated, yet the disease continues to spread.
“I am not sure who says that [vaccination] is the answer because they have already injected 2 million animals, and FMD keeps spreading, so it does not work,” he said on CapeTalk’s morning show hosted by Lester Kiewit.
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Western Cape fights the disease
His comment comes after the Western Cape Government embarked on a massive drive to vaccinate the entire provincial herd against FMD following the implementation of quarantine measures at affected farms last week.
McIntosh said that intensive feedlot systems, grain-based diets, and regular medication use can compromise cattle’s immune systems, leaving them more susceptible to disease.
“The immune systems of the animals are repressed by the way they are kept in their toilets, and then they think the pharmaceutical industry is going to be the saviour.”
The Western Cape would be safe
McIntosh argued that if the measures that the government says it is implementing, including the vaccination, worked, the Western Cape would not be dealing with an outbreak at the moment. The province vaccinated about 450 head of cattle on Sunday alone.
Linda Mtalane, a beef production farmer from KwaZulu-Natal, said she is concerned about the disease outbreak, as farmers in her area have reported cases.
“Both of our neighbour farmers have recorded cases of FMD,” she said. We have not had any cases as yet, but being so close to people who are experiencing it firsthand is giving us huge anxiety because you do not know if one day you will wake up and your entire herd is infected.”
ALSO READ: Fears of foot and mouth disease grow
Precautionary measures
Speaking at the Metropolitan Collective Shapers Impact brunch, she added that they are following precautionary measures that the government has communicated would help curb the spread of the disease.
“So we are practising all the precautionary measures that we can,” added Mtalane. “We are doing all we can, but honestly, we are depending on the government to roll out the vaccination programme and also educate us about what happens next.”
Recently, the Agricultural Research Council’s Onderstepoort facility produced the initial batch of 12 000 doses, with production set to scale up to 20 000 doses weekly by March. This is the first locally produced vaccine for the disease.
Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen described the achievement as crucial for the country’s biosecurity strategy.
“This vaccine will ensure South Africa’s vaccine sovereignty in dealing with foot-and-mouth disease. Never again will we have to, unless we’re required to for the sake of volume, go to other countries to rely on the vaccine,” he said.
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