The Argentine company joins the national strategy to fight foot-and-mouth disease, providing high-potency vaccines against the SAT 1, SAT 2 and SAT 3 strains, with the aim of drastically reducing outbreaks and contributing to the recovery of the country’s health status.
Biogénesis Bagó announced the shipping of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines to South Africa, which will be part of the national vaccination plan designed to contain and eradicate the disease within ten years. The agreement includes an initial shipment of 1 million doses of high-potency vaccines, ready to be dispatched as soon as the corresponding regulatory authorizations are issued, and an additional supply of 5 million doses before March 2026 against the SAT 1, SAT 2 and SAT 3 serotypes that generated outbreaks in the country with significant consequences for meat and milk production.
The doses provided by Biogénesis Bagó will be integrated into massive vaccination campaigns in phases, focused on outbreaks identified through risk maps (heatmaps), with coverage goals of more than 80% in communal herds and up to 100% in feedlots and dairy farms. This contribution will complement local production and the agreements that South Africa has with other institutions in the region, strengthening the availability of trivalent vaccines adapted to the SAT (South African Territories) strains currently circulating in the country.
The South African program combines the use of high-potency vaccines with a reinforcement of epidemiological surveillance, traceability and movement control, with the aim of significantly reducing the incidence of outbreaks in the most affected provinces over the next 12 months. In the medium term, the strategy plans to move towards the consolidation of disease control and, finally, the progressive withdrawal of vaccination once the health objectives established by international organizations have been achieved
Desde Biogénesis Bagó destacaron que este acuerdo se apoya en la amplia experiencia de la compañía en la lucha contra la fiebre aftosa y en su capacidad industrial para responder a emergencias sanitarias de gran escala. “Nuestra misión es acompañar a los países en el diseño e implementación de estrategias sostenibles de control y erradicación de la aftosa, combinando tecnología de punta, capacidad de producción y conocimiento epidemiológico”, señaló Rodolfo Bellinzoni, Director de Operaciones e Innovación de Biogénesis Bagó.
Biogénesis Bagó emphasized that this agreement is based on the company’s extensive experience in the fight against foot-and-mouth disease and its industrial capacity to respond to large-scale health emergencies. “Our mission is to help countries in the design and implementation of sustainable strategies for the control and eradication of foot-and-mouth disease, combining state-of-the-art technology, production capacity and epidemiological knowledge,” said Rodolfo Bellinzoni, Chief of Industrial Operations and Innovation at Biogénesis Bagó.
“The commitment to South Africa adds to our track record of successful disease control programs in Latin America and Asia, where the systematic use of our vaccines contributed to recovering and sustaining FMD-free status with and without vaccination,” he added.
Biogénesis Bagó also acts as a supplier of antigens and vaccines for antigen banks against foot-and-mouth disease, facilitating a rapid and flexible response to the emergence of new outbreaks and viral variants. “Being an antigen bank supplier to the world’s leading meat exporters such as Brazil and the United States has given us a unique platform to quickly adapt our solutions to the relevant field strains in each region. That same experience will now be at the service of South Africa, as a strategic partner in its roadmap towards a country free of foot-and-mouth disease and with greater health resilience,” Bellinzoni concluded.