Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen says the government will cover the full cost of vaccinating the national herd against foot-and-mouth disease.
This means there will be no cost to farmers for vaccines administered as part of the national response to the outbreak.
Steenhuisen said vaccines had been distributed to all provinces, and the vaccination programme was now well under way. Hundreds of thousands of animals are being vaccinated each week as the country works towards the target of vaccinating 80% of the national herd by December.
Steenhuisen on Thursday called on stakeholders to exercise caution regarding misinformation circulating on social media and other platforms.
Recent rumours spread by an agriculture lobby group have attempted to misrepresent the cost of the Dollvet vaccines being procured by government. These claims focus on R45, which is the single, quoted bulk supply price per dose, without recognising the broader logistical and operational requirements involved in a national vaccination programme of this scale.
The vaccines are being procured and paid for by the state and administered free of charge to farmers. No farmer is paying for these vaccines, and government is certainly not selling them
— John Steenhuisen, agriculture minister
He said the price that has been circulated publicly relates to the supplier’s bulk delivery price to an approved cold-storage facility in South Africa. However, the R45 price does not represent the full cost of getting a vaccine from that point into the national veterinary system and ultimately to farms across South Africa.
Steenhuisen said the government’s procurement cost reflects the full operational process required to move vaccines through the national veterinary distribution system, ensuring that doses are delivered safely and reliably to veterinarians administering the vaccines.
The suggestion that the government is “making a profit” from vaccines is entirely incorrect, he said.
“The vaccines are being procured and paid for by the state and administered free of charge to farmers. No farmer is paying for these vaccines, and government is certainly not selling them,” Steenhuisen said.
Another claim circulating is that the government does not have the resources to fund the vaccination programme. This is also false. The department said it has allocated funding specifically for the procurement of vaccines and will continue to ensure that sufficient doses were available to sustain the campaign.
TimesLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.