Statement by Désirée van der Walt MP – DA Spokesperson on Agriculture:
Minister Willie Aucamp’s move to allow qualifying private companies to use the Agricultural Research Council’s (ARC) intellectual property to manufacture its Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine at scale means more vaccines for cattle across the country.
This is an important step towards getting more vaccines into the hands of farmers and strengthening South Africa’s response to the FMD outbreak.
The Minister’s decision also recognises that government cannot solve this crisis alone. Bringing the private sector into vaccine production will add much-needed manufacturing capacity while the ARC works to rebuild and expand its own production capability.