The Minister of Agriculture, Mr John Steenhuisen, will officially kickstart the nationwide mass vaccination rollout against Foot and mouth disease (FMD) this Friday in KwaZuluNatal.

This high-priority intervention follows the arrival of one million high-potency vaccine doses from Biogénesis Bagó, Argentina on Saturday 21 February 2026.

As the largest single consignment of FMD vaccines ever to enter South Africa, this shipment marks the operational “kickstart” of the Department of Agriculture’s new 10-Year Strategic Plan to vaccinate the national herd. Millions more doses of FMD vaccine have been procured, that will arrive soon in the country.

The vaccination process is strategically phased starting with mass vaccination in the highest-risk areas and then moving to lower-risk areas.