Treasury, Agri Dept working to unlock funds for foot-and-mouth disease vaccines

The National Treasury said it’s working with the Department of Agriculture to find the money to pay for the vaccines it’s importing to stem the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak that is threatening farming across the country.

With all the provinces now affected by the disease, 28 million doses of vaccine will have to be procured to inject at least 80% of the national herd by the end of 2026.

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Treasury Director General Duncan Pieterse said the underspend on grants within the department has already been earmarked for this purpose.

While the president announced during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) two weeks ago that foot-and-mouth disease would be classified a national disaster, the department told Parliament on Tuesday that no official declaration has yet been issued that would unlock an emergency response or financing.

Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s budget tabling, Pieterse said money has already been identified within the department’s budget that can be redirected towards the national vaccination campaign.

“That’s to the value of about R400 million and that will give them enough runway to get towards the end of the year to deal with foot-and-mouth.”

On Tuesday, Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen told Parliament that while he would have preferred not to have to import vaccines, the State’s capacity had been severely neglected over the past 20 years.

Pieterse said financing to bolster local vaccine capability is also under consideration.

“We are talking to them through the budget facility for infrastructure about making a capital investment in the Onderstepoort facility so that we have vaccine production capabilities going forward.”

A million doses of vaccine from Argentina arrived in South Africa over the past weekend and more shipments are expected in the coming weeks.