PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said on Tuesday that by June, his government would be rolling out a vaccine against African swine fever (ASF), a highly contagious viral disease in hogs.
The country’s first ASF vaccine will come from Vietnam, he told farmers at a town hall forum in Occidental Mindoro.
“We’re now purchasing the vaccine. We will roll out soon, probably by June or July, we will be able to release the vaccines,” the President, speaking in Filipino, said. “We’re just waiting for the production in Vietnam because it is the developer of the vaccine.”
Last February, Agriculture Undersecretary Roger Navarro told Palace reporters that Mr. Marcos spoke with the suppliers during his visit to Vietnam a month before. The Philippines has been struggling to contain ASF since the first confirmed outbreak of the hog disease in 2019.
The Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Animal Industry in 2023 recommended Vietnam’s AVAC vaccine for the Food and Drug Administration’s issuance of product registration certificate following positive results of its trial in the main island of Luzon from March to May 2023.
The test done in six areas in Luzon yielded 100% production of antibodies with no reported side effects among four-week-old to 10-week-old hogs. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza