Page 96 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 3

OND
ERSTEPOORT 100
The fire that broke out in the Vaccine Factory on a Sunday evening in 1981 and damaged a large portion of the factory, especially the bottling section, was a nasty blow to vaccine production. The conference centre in the same building complex had to be temporarily transformed into a bottling section while the necessary repair work was done. Fortunately there was no serious structural damage to the building, the worst being to some of the beams in the ceilings. Since the government does not insure its property, the funds required for repairs were obtained from the departmental budget, fortunately not from the Factory’s trade account.
The fire was a mixed blessing, in a sense, because the damaged laboratories had to be renovated and were modernized in the process. Within approximately a year the factory was back in full production and none the worse for wear.
When Cameron left the Institute at the end of 1984 to become a Chief Director in the Department of National Health, the virologist B.J. Erasmus, who replaced Cameron, was tasked with the supervision of the Vaccine Factory from 1 January 1985 in his stead.
According to Bigalke (1985) a total number of 50 different vaccines were produced in 1983, of which 27 were bacterial, 18 viral, 3 rickettsial and 2 protozoal in nature. Other biolo- gical products that were manufactured comprised 3 antisera and 10 diagnostic reagents. This is a vast array for any vaccine factory. The total number of vaccine doses manufactured in 1983 were:
Bacterial vaccines Viral vaccines Rickettsial vaccines Protozoal vaccines Total
104 891 816 34 054 825 3 890 400 207 624 143 044 665
186
The comparative figures for 1958 were:
It is important to appreciate that 30 of these vaccines had a turnover of less than 1 million doses per annum. It is therefore clear that as many vaccines were developed by the Institute’s researchers and produced by its factory as were regarded necessary to enable South African farmers to protect their livestock adequately in this country with its many infectious diseases, divergent ecosystems and managerial practices. Many of these vaccines were sold below production cost and therefore had to be subsidized by those with a large turnover. This policy existed long before the Vaccine Factory was created and continued to be the case thereafter despite
Bleeding an ox for the production of anaplasmosis (gallsickness) vaccine
the fact that it had to earn its own keep from 1981. Onderstepoort vaccines were also exported to foreign countries. Although it was not possible to determine exactly how much vaccine was exported, because the marketing of vaccines was done largely by pharmaceutical companies, it was estimated to be more than 10% of the total sales. Avail- able figures over 10 years yield a mean annual value of 8,8
million doses from 1973-1983.
One of the main functions of the Foot and Mouth Disease
Laboratory (later the ARC-Institute for Exotic Diseases and since 1999 the Exotic Diseases Division of the ARC-OVI), which was commissioned early in 1980, was to produce foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccine for use within the borders of South Africa. As vaccination against FMD, by law
Bacterial vaccines Viral vaccines Rickettsial vaccines Protozoal vaccines Total
29 954 520 25 051 081 425 360 44 720 55 475 681
PART 3
History of Individual Disciplines
1908-2008
Years