ASF vax effective for now; pigs healthy post-inoculation – DA

MANILA – The vaccine against African swine fever (ASF) is proving effective "at least for now," the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Saturday, reporting that majority of the pigs inoculated in August are still alive and healthy.

At the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, DA Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Arnel De Mesa said five suckling pigs died but only due to pulmonary diseases, which were discovered only after the administration of the vaccine.

"May namatay na lima pero because mayroon silang precondition na hindi sinabi doon sa nag-a-administer doon sa Lobo (in Batangas province). But, iyong others ay talagang napaka-healthy hanggang sa ngayon (Five died but only because they had a precondition that was not declared when the vaccine was administered in Lobo. The others are really very healthy until now)," he said.

"Dahil iyong unang batch na exposed sa ASF, and in fact buhay pa sila ngayon at apparently healthy, can tell us na maganda iyong bakuna (Since it was the first batch that was exposed to ASF and in fact they are still alive and apparently healthy, that can tell us that the vaccine is good) at least for now," he added.

De Mesa said it takes 14 to 30 days before antibodies fully develop in a hog.

The DA earlier launched its first government-controlled vaccination among 41 healthy and ASF-negative hogs in small backyard farms in the Batangas town.

The vaccine will be expanded to reach other areas in Visayas and Mindanao.

De Mesa said the government is also working to complete the procurement of 600,000 vaccine doses against ASF by next month.

"Ini-expect natin iyong procurement noong natitirang bakuna iyong kabuuan na 600,000 doses ay matapos mid-October para magtuluy-tuloy na iyong bakunahan natin (We expect that the procurement of the total 600,000 doses will be completed mid-October so that we could ramp up our vaccination efforts)," he said.

The government allocated P300 million for the purchase of approximately 600,000 ASF vaccine doses developed in Vietnam and an additional P50 million for related inoculation costs. (PNA)