FMD Response SA has welcomed the action taken by Agriculture Minister Willie Aucamp on allegations of misconduct relating to the pricing of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccines by local vaccine manufacturer Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP).

The suspension of the entity's acting CEO Jacob Modumoh, which Aucamp announced on September 7, is precautionary, with no finding having been made against him; however, the process to independently verify the allegations must now be allowed to run fairly, FMD Response SA states.

Aucamp says OBP should not unduly profit from the tragedy of FMD currently facing farmers.

"Given that South Africa is experiencing the largest FMD outbreak in the country’s history, government has a responsibility to protect and support farmers by ensuring that vaccines are procured and made available in the most cost-effective and efficient manner possible," the Minister states.

FMD Response SA explains that the vaccine at the centre of the allegations was procured for the national FMD response and paid for with public money. When one arm of the State supplies another, the only protection is oversight.

FMD Response SA spokesperson Andrew Morphew says the Minister's intervention shows that exact oversight at work.

Commenting on the overall process for South Africa's FMD response, Morphew says single channels have been used during most of the outbreak, including vaccine procurement, distribution and testing, with pricing now coming under scrutiny.

OBP and the Agricultural Research Council's (ARC's) Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute are separate institutions, but the problem is the same: a critical function of the FMD response concentrated in one channel, with no external check, FMD Response SA says.

The ARC's institute at Onderstepoort confirms the country's outbreaks, performs its FMD testing, advises government on vaccine selection and manufactures its own FMD vaccine for the same response. "It is a player in the vaccine market and the referee at the same time."

“No institution should wear all of those hats. A routine share of South Africa's samples should go to the world reference laboratory for FMD at Pirbright in the UK, so that our results are checked outside our borders. That is not a criticism of anyone. It is how confidence is built," Morphew states.

He adds that this is not a question about the good faith of any institution, rather is a question about whether the country has a way to check.

Aucamp has shown this week what independent scrutiny looks like when a critical function sits in one channel. The same standard belongs in the laboratory system. No institution should be the sole judge of a response it also supplies, FMD Response SA reiterates.

The organisation says it remains committed to working constructively with Aucamp and his department, as well as State and private veterinarians, vaccine suppliers, industry organisations and livestock producers to control FMD and restore South Africa's animal-health status.