DA launches trial test of ASF vax in Batangas

HEALTH CHECK Pigs are inspected at a livestock checkpoint in Cavite province for symptoms of African swine fever to prevent the spread of the disease. —Richard A. Reyes

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is preparing to vaccinate some hogs in Batangas province against African swine fever (ASF) this week following the arrival of 10,000 vaccine doses from Vietnam on Monday.

The inoculation campaign is part of a wider controlled vaccine testing program, which the DA purchased via emergency procurement.

Sought for comment, Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines president Rolando Tambago expressed hope that a vaccine would become available to help the swine industry recover from the severe impact of ASF.

READ: 7 towns in Quezon log ASF cases

“The efficacy and safety of the ASF vaccine from Vietnam remains to be seen as the 10,000 doses will still be for ‘controlled trial’ per information from DA-BAI (Bureau of Animal Industry),” Tambago said in a Viber message.

“We are really hoping for that potential ASF vaccine to finally be available as it will have a huge impact on the pork industry,” he added.

Tambago said that since the 2019 ASF outbreak, the estimated industry-wide losses have been at least P100 billion.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary Constante Palabrica said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had set strict requirements for controlled testing to ensure vaccine efficiency, including genome sequencing of the virus to ensure that inoculation would not result in mutations.

In a radio interview, Palabrica said the DA would outline the rules of engagement before the start of the controlled vaccination in Lobo town, reportedly the ground zero of the ASF outbreak in the country.

Advisory board

Palabrica said the DA had convened an advisory board composed of academicians, scientists, and experts to help them gather additional data and determine the effectiveness of the doses.

He explained that the vaccine would be injected only in breeders and growers. But before this, blood would be drawn from the hogs to check whether or not there was an active infection.

Other vaccine manufacturers from the United States, South Korea and Vietnam have also asked the FDA to include them in the controlled testing to be conducted by BAI, he added.

Before the vaccines arrived in the country, some DA officials met with local government officials, agriculturists from Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), and industry groups over the weekend to discuss proposed guidelines to ease the transport of hogs nationwide.

“The government will ease regulation but we have to make sure only live and healthy pigs are transported, not the infected ones, to avoid the spread of ASF. That’s why it’s important that we ensure infected animals stay in red zones,” Agriculture Undersecretary Asis Perez said.

The DA recently approved a higher rate for indemnification of ASF-infected pigs—P4,000 for piglets, P8,000 for medium-sized hogs, and P12,000 for sows and bigger hogs. The rate was previously at P5,000 per animal, regardless of size.