ASF vaccine approved for commercial distribution in the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — A new hope is seen for the country’s hog industry with the commercial approval of a vaccine against African swine fever (ASF), the Department of Agriculture (DA) announced yesterday. Local hog raisers may purchase the Vietnam-made AVAC vaccine from local veterinary shops and outlets accredited by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), an attached agency of the DA. “When the stocks arrive, hog raisers may buy the ASF vaccine to protect their hogs and help stabilize prices at farmgate levels,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said. Before the vaccine was approved for commercial distribution, the DA had been conducting trial deployments of the AVAC vaccine in registered hog or piggery farms nationwide. Tiu Laurel said the DA would convene the retailers to ensure that prices of the vaccine remain affordable for hog farmers. “The availability of a commercially approved ASF vaccine is crucial to our repopulation program. It gives hog raisers another tool to protect healthy animals as we work to rebuild the industry and secure a more stable supply of pork,” Tiu Laurel said. He said that next year, the BAI may likely approve additional ASF vaccines for commercial distribution. “We can see a competition as two or three new vaccines from other countries may be approved,” Tiu laurel said, noting the new vaccines will come from South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Agriculture Undersecretary Constante Palabrica said the BAI is currently conducting a test on the Korean PROVAC vaccine. Palabrica said the BAI is proposing a budget of about P1 billion to subsidize ASF vaccination programs including backyard hog farms. The commercial approval of the vaccine is expected to boost the hog industry, which has been reeling from the effects of ASF outbreaks in 76 of 82 provinces in the country. Hog farmers have yet to fully recover from the virus, which has decimated local hog populations, raised pork prices and caused billions of pesos in losses since the initial outbreak was reported in Rizal province in 2019.