SERUM SHORTAGE: SA’s antivenom crisis deepens as major stockouts are set to last until July

The National Health Laboratory Service has confirmed ongoing stockouts of essential antivenom serum for snake, spider, and scorpion bites, projected to last until mid-July — but has refused to say why this is happening.

The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) has confirmed that there is a stockout of most antivenom serums, including polyvalent snake antivenom and antivenom for scorpions and spiders, which will persist for the next few weeks.

NHLS spokesperson Mzi Gcukumana said the interruption was temporary.

He said South African Vaccine Producers’ antivenom production remained “fully operational”, but confirmed that, for now, antivenom was only available for boomslang and Echis (saw-scaled viper) bites.

“The NHLS has a statutory responsibility to ensure the availability of lifesaving antivenom products and remains steadfast in fulfilling this mandate. Through robust production planning, rigorous quality assurance processes and continuous operational oversight, the organisation continues to prioritise the manufacture of safe, effective and high-quality antivenom that meets the highest regulatory and clinical standards.

“Antivenom production is a highly specialised biological manufacturing process that requires stringent testing, quality control and regulatory compliance at every stage. These safeguards are non-negotiable and are essential to ensuring patient safety, product efficacy and public confidence in these lifesaving interventions,” said Gcukumana.

He said new batches of antivenom would be released on the following dates:

In early 2023, medical personnel, vets and snake catchers reported acute antivenom shortages, especially of polyvalent antivenom, effective against the bites of 10 venomous snakes found in southern Africa.

By 2 April that year, the shortage had escalated to what was labelled as an “absolute catastrophe”.

At the time, load shedding and the damage it had caused to ageing equipment were blamed for the crisis.

Later that month, on 20 April, the NHLS indicated that it had increased production and had distributed antivenom to 124 facilities. However, demand still outstripped supply, and experts appealed to the minister of health to intervene.

By November, more than 6,100 vials of antivenom had been distributed across 302 institutions, and the crisis appeared to have been resolved.

However, the following year, from April to October 2024, production of antivenom was halted due to infrastructure upgrades. This again led to widespread outages.

In March 2025, the NHLS admitted that, due to renovations, all manufacturing