An article on the African swine fever vaccine, published by Reuters on June 12, 2023, said: “Global and U.S. veterinary authorities said the African swine fever vaccine being tested in Vietnam is close to approval. This will be a major breakthrough in the fight against the dangerous disease that regularly plagues pig farms around the world.”

Many newspapers in some countries around the world, such as Philippines, Dominica… also have many articles praising the effectiveness of Vietnam-made African swine fever vaccine.

RESULTS THAT BRING HAPPY

“After decades of efforts, but failed due to the complexity of the virus, two vaccines co-developed by US scientists are being tested by Vietnamese companies in large-scale pilot programs and are showing very promising results,” said Gregorio Torres, chief scientist of the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH).

The article also highlights how African swine fever has disrupted the $250 billion global pork market for many years. During the worst outbreak in 2018 and 2019, about half of China’s pig herd died, with losses estimated at more than $100 billion.

“We have never managed to develop an achievable vaccine against African swine fever. Therefore, two vaccines that are manufactured and tested in Vietnam have the highest chance of success and are allowed to be sold worldwide,” emphasized Mr. Gregorio Torres.

In an interview with Reuters, US Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) Thomas Vilsack said he looks forward to Vietnam being allowed to export African swine fever vaccine to cover preventive purchases in the US, even though the US is so far free of the virus.

USDA researchers reviewed the results of one of the NAVET-ASFVAC vaccines they co-developed with Vietnamese company NAVETCO VET.ENT, according to a USDA spokesman. After the vaccine was tested in high-efficacy, no-risk trials, 600,000 doses were tested in pig production in Vietnam.

Answering a question from Vietnam Economic Review/VnEconomy why the ASF vaccine is only tested in Vietnam and not yet allowed to be exported, but this vaccine is already being tested in some countries? Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said that in the past period, with the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Animal Health sent a mission to the Dominican Republic to vaccinate and test the African swine fever vaccine NAVET – ASFVAC from May 15 to June 19, 2023.

The results show that the NAVET – ASFVAC vaccine against African swine fever is safe and effective in all 459 experimental pigs injected in the field. The Dominican Republic has asked Navetco to support an additional 2,500 doses of African swine fever vaccine for expanded injection in that country in the near future.

For the Philippines, as of February 2023, the Ministry of Animal Health of the Philippines has requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and Vietnamese companies to provide the Philippines with a set of vaccines for testing. With the approval of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, AVAC Company coordinated and delivered 1,000 doses of AVAC ASF LIVE African Swine Fever vaccine. The Department of Agriculture of the Philippines has allowed units to actively coordinate to conduct a pilot injection of AVAC ASF LIVE vaccine in 6 pig farms in the Luzon region of the Philippines.

As a result of the trial, the AVAC ASF LIVE vaccine was safe and effective in all 1,000 injected test pigs. “The Ministry of Animal Health of the Philippines has proposed that the Philippine government officially allow the import and use of 300,000 doses of ASF vaccine from Vietnam,” Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said.

On the issue of African swine fever vaccine exports, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said the next steps must continue to be taken cautiously. The ministry is currently awaiting a report from US experts assessing the quality, safety and efficacy of the African swine fever vaccine made in Vietnam. The ministry is also asking about inviting a European assessment team to assess the vaccine’s safety and issue a certification. If there are international certifications, we can export with confidence.

PROPOSED TO BE USED FURTHER EARLY TO GO EXPORT

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien frankly commented on the success of producing the African swine fever vaccine: “This is not Vietnam’s success alone, but the success of the cooperation and support of many countries around the world.” The process of researching and domesticating these virus strains was carried out by US researchers and then moved to Vietnam to carry out the following steps towards success.

At the meeting organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on July 15, 2023 to evaluate the results of monitoring the quality and use of African swine fever vaccines by NAVETCO and AVAC, Mr. Phan Quang Minh, Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Health, reported that up to that date, the close-scale pilot vaccination of 600,000 doses of ASF vaccine by two Vietnamese companies, CP NAVETCO and CP, had shown positive results.

Accordingly, from July 2022 to June 2023, NAVETCO supplied and coordinated specialized agencies to oversee the implementation of NAVET ASFVAC vaccination in 7 different herd sizes from 50 pigs/household to 2,000 pigs/farm at 132 facilities in 23 cities and provinces. The total injection dose is 47,435 doses, of which 29,685 doses are supervised.

dr Nguyen After 2-4 days of vaccination, there is often a reaction with some symptoms such as mild fever, decreased appetite, cough or diarrhea, after which the pigs return to normal. Post-injection antibody test results reached 85.5% at the 1st dose and 97.4% at the 2nd dose; the average rate of both stitches is 95.5%…

The content of the article was published in Vietnam Economic Journal No. 30 – 2023, published on July 24, 2023. Readers are welcome to read it here:

https://postenp.phaha.vn/chi-tiet-toa-soan/tap-chi-king-te-viet-nam