DA to roll out African swine fever vaccines by September

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture (DA) expects to roll out its African swine fever (ASF) vaccination program by September, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said on Monday, July 15.

“DA has to bid it out ‘no. So, hopefully, you know, bureaucracy ang kalaban ko dito eh,” said Tiu Laurel. “So sana by September ay ma-rollout na iyon at ma-vaccinate na iyong growers ng ating mga backyard.”

(DA has to bid it out. Bureaucracy is the enemy here. Hopefully by September we can roll out and vaccinate our backyard growers.)

Tiu Laurel said that the batch of vaccines arriving by September is for government use only.

“Kasi basically, minu-monitor ito for six months ng government use, then after that, hopefully, kung pumasa na lahat at okay lahat, for commercial use na,” he said.

(Basically, it will be monitored for six months [through] government use, then after that, hopefully, if everything checks, it’s for commercial use already.)

According to the agriculture secretary, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved the ASF vaccine. The vaccine applying for approval is produced by AVAC Vietnam.

ASF is a viral disease of farm-raised and wild pigs with 100% fatality rate. It has become a global concern after outbreaks were detected in many countries including China, Vietnam, and Korea. The Philippines had its first outbreak of the highly contagious disease in 2019.

The Bureau of Animal Industry reported that as of July 12, nine provinces still have active ASF cases.

Reservations

However, a group of hog farmers said they are “hesitant” to use the vaccines because of safety and cost issues, as well as the controversies that surrounded the trials conducted the past year.

In October last year, the Senate conducted a probe into the vaccine trials held by private farms even without a certificate of product registration from the FDA. (READ: Who’s to blame for ‘private-led’ trials of African swine fever vaccines?)

“Most of our counterpart farmers from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia do not want to use the vaccines for fear of shedding as they have already seen ASF variants with two genotypes currently and they suspected they came from vaccine use,” said Alfred Ng, vice chairman of the National Federation of Hog Farmers (NatFed), in a statement.

Ng said the price of the vaccine is “very high” and is almost “four times” compared to Vietnam’s.

That the DA will do “controlled vaccination with strict monitoring…is a welcome development as we do not want indiscriminate vaccine sales everywhere,” he said.

KPP Powers Commodities, local distributor of the Vietnam-developed vaccine, assured the public that the vaccines were safe and effective.

The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) had previously warned against the use of sub-standard vaccines, as these “may not confer any protection against ASF and risks spreading vaccine viruses that could result in acute or chronic disease.”

WOAH also said authorities should pursue a “well-designed vaccination program” and include post-vaccination surveillance and an exit strategy. – Rappler.com