| The reason no progress is being made is because a task team appointed by agriculture minister John Steenhuisen last June has not yet been given its terms of reference, nor has its composition been finalised, the report says. The task team’s job is to resolve differences between the department of agriculture and the poultry industry over the rules governing the “mass vaccination campaign” that minister Steenhuisen has promised. The department continues to insist on requirements that the poultry industry says are too complex and too costly to implement. Poultry producers have pleaded for a more practical and affordable set of rules so that they can get vaccinations underway, but so far to no avail. SAPA’s avian influenza report for the fourth quarter of last year noted that a few broiler breeder farms had been approved for vaccination against highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI or bird flu), using the existing protocols. “Despite promises that South Africa is going to vaccinate against HPAI, no other companies have been approved to vaccinate,” it said. “An avian influenza task team, comprising scientists and veterinarians from the Agricultural Research Council, the Department of Agriculture and the Faculty of Veterinary Science of the University of Pretoria, was appointed by the Minister of Agriculture in June this year. “The task team has been unable to make progress with its task as at the date of writing no formal terms of reference have been received, nor has the exact composition of the team been finalised. “No discussions have been held between the Director of Animal Health and the SAPA task team in the past eight months. “Progress on HPAI vaccination in South Africa is at a standstill,” the report said. The stalled bird flu vaccination programme is in sharp contrast to the rapid rollout of a vaccination campaign against foot and mouth disease for South Africa’s cattle farmers. Both are controlled diseases, requiring vaccinations to be managed by the government. The government aims to combat the foot and mouth crisis by vaccinating all of South Africa’s 14 million cattle. Engineering News reported this week that foot and mouth vaccination was “in full swing” in disease epicentres across the country, using a million doses of imported vaccines. Minister Steenhuisen, in an article in News24, said “A system that manages risk, rather than reacting to outbreaks, will protect livelihoods, stabilise investment and keep value chains functioning even while foot and mouth disease is being controlled”. Poultry producers would heartily agree – they want to manage risk in their industry through a similar mass vaccination programme. Bird flu is spreading around the world, and could easily become South Africa’s next agricultural and food security crisis. But, seven months after Minister Steenhuisen’s bird flu task team was supposed to start work, it still has no terms of reference or confirmed membership. |
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