The Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation launched today a national and comprehensive vaccination campaign against the new SAT1 strain of the foot-and-mouth disease virus, recently detected in some neighboring countries. This step is part of a proactive and rapid plan to protect Egypt’s livestock, with veterinary convoys scheduled to begin work next Saturday across all governorates. Minister Alaa Farouk emphasized that protecting livestock is a national responsibility that cannot be delayed, highlighting the ministry’s success in taking proactive measures thanks to integrated coordination among its bodies and sectors. He stressed that this achievement crowns the restructuring efforts adopted by the ministry to achieve the highest levels of efficiency and speed in crisis response and to meet the needs of farmers and livestock breeders as quickly as possible.

The success story began with the precise monitoring of the regional and international epidemiological situation by the General Authority for Veterinary Services, which observed the rapid spread of the SAT1 strain in neighboring countries, confirmed by international reports from global reference laboratories. Farouk praised the pivotal role of the General Authority for Veterinary Services and its affiliated research institutes, which succeeded in isolating the new strain and preparing and producing vaccines in record time. He also noted the efforts of the monitoring unit and the hotline of the ministry’s digital transformation unit, which effectively contributed to tracking new variants. The campaign will focus especially on border areas considered most at risk, aiming to protect livestock throughout the country.