Farmers have taken to using illegally acquired vaccines to prevent sheep dying from bluetongue disease due to a severe shortage of vaccines produced by state-run Onderstepoort Biological Products .
The OBP is the only producer of African horse sickness and Rift Valley fever vaccines, as well as vaccines for bluetongue disease, which mostly affects sheep and cattle. Outdated and broken manufacturing equipment has led to constant delays in the production of these vaccines. Aware of the problems at OBP, agriculture minister Thoko Didiza asked drug manufacturer Aspen, which produces human vaccines, to help the OBP with technical and engineering expertise related to certain production processes. It has done so, Stavros Nicolaou, group senior executive at Aspen Pharma, confirmed to Business Day. DA agriculture spokesperson
However, Ngcobo said only one private manufacturer has applied to the registrar to produce the bluetongue vaccine, and its application did not comply with the regulatory requirements. The issue facing the private sector, Masipa said, is that it can take three to five years to develop vaccines appropriate for the SA strains of the diseases and another three to five years for regulatory approval. It is neither cost-effective nor feasible for the private sector to do so.
While sheep and horses are dying painful deaths, the RPO said there is insufficient urgency by the government to deal with the issue.