South Africa releases its first locally produced foot-and-mouth disease vaccine in 20 years to combat the outbreak.

The South African government announced on the 6th that it has launched the country's first domestically produced foot-and-mouth disease vaccine in about 20 years to help combat the severe foot-and-mouth disease epidemic currently facing the country. The South African government released a statement on the same day, saying that due to reasons such as aging equipment and production technology, South Africa stopped producing foot-and-mouth disease vaccines in 2005. However, after modernizing and upgrading, the country has successfully produced the first batch of 12,900 doses of foot-and-mouth disease vaccine using modern technology. The first batch of domestically produced vaccines will be distributed to multiple provinces to strengthen the frontline response to foot-and-mouth disease.