Dr Heath reported that to date a production process has been developed that is capable of consistently producing FMD vaccine antigens that will be used in the formulation of the FMD vaccine. He further reported that the design of the new factory is underway with construction anticipated to commence in July 2014. He said the ARC has established a training programme to develop the Human Resource (HR) capacity that is required in operating the new facility and eight students were enrolled in the programme during 2013; and the ARC is planning to develop downstream processing capabilities to maximise vaccine output. Future activities include the production of FMD vaccine that will be supplied to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) for use in the 2015 national vaccination campaign. The construction and validation of the new factory is expected to be completed in 2016 and the new factory will have sufficient capacity to meet the national and regional vaccine requirements.