FMD Vaccine Sovereignty Becomes the Global Battleground as South Africa Scales Up, Argentina Exports and Buenos Aires Resists Reform

Three developments across three continents reveal foot-and-mouth vaccine supply as a strategic rather than merely technical concern: South Africa is rebuilding domestic manufacturing after years of import dependence, an Argentine producer has entered the European Union for the first time on the back of an outbreak, and Argentina’s own cattle sector is resisting reforms it fears could unpick the system that delivered its disease-free status.

South Africa: building back capacity
The Agricultural Research Council has delivered its first locally produced FMD vaccine doses, a batch of 12,900 handed over in February, with initial output targeted at 20,000 doses a week rising to 200,000 weekly by 2027. Dr Faith Peta, chief research technician at the ARC’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Research unit, helped design the production system after more than two decades moving from diagnostics into prevention.
In September, Agriculture Minister Willie Aucamp confirmed that qualifying private firms will be permitted to use ARC intellectual property to manufacture at larger scale — following Cabinet’s February endorsement of rebuilding capacity at both the ARC and Onderstepoort Biological Products. The strategy pairs emergency imports with a longer-term push for production sovereignty. Outbreaks remained active across the country in June even as vaccination numbers climbed into the millions.

Argentina to Cyprus: an emergency opens a closed market
Biogénesis Bagó has shipped 100,000 doses to Cyprus, the first Argentine-made FMD vaccine to enter the European Union, cleared under a special Cypriot import permit. The outbreak involves the SAT1 serotype, originating in southern Africa and since detected in Lesbos, Greece, Israel and Turkey — making antigen matching central to containment. Chief executive Esteban Turic acknowledged unmet demand during outbreaks. The company reports annual output of around 300 million doses, a strategic antigen reserve equivalent to 110 million, and installed capacity of 450 million doses across six countries.

Buenos Aires: resisting reform
Argentina’s own producers are pushing back. SENASA’s Resolution 201 would allow producers to select accredited private veterinarians rather than relying solely on the existing cooperative network, with officials projecting roughly $25 million in savings. The COPROSA livestock commission in Buenos Aires province has unanimously called for rollback. Ignacio Kovarsky of CARBAP said the industry would discuss which cattle classes receive vaccination, but not a redesign of distribution, storage and administration — warning that flexibility risks uneven coverage in a country whose disease-free status rests on tightly coordinated public-private delivery.