Vietnam to become first country to produce vaccine for ASF

Vietnam to issue vaccine for ASF in second quarter

Once the products are officially launched, Vietnam will become the first country in the world manufacturing a vaccine for ASF.

Navetco National Veterinary JSC (Navetco) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development finished the pilot programme on 72 pigs in normal condition with a 100 per cent success ratio. The pilot was also applied to crossbred pigs. According to Navetco, the vaccine takes 14 days to show results.

Phung Duc Tieng, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said, “The vaccine is sure to be effective because no pigs tested positive for the ASF epidemic after being injected.”

The vaccine was developed basing on the gene I177L from the US. The US studied this virus for 10 years. In February last year, Vietnam requested the United States to transfer genetically altered samples of the ASF virus it has developed to facilitate vaccine production. Vietnam plans to manufacture four batches of the vaccine with 10,000 doses each.

Vietnam National University of Agriculture started researching a vaccine last March. Thus far, it has developed four vaccines, one of which has shown encouraging results in 13 of the 14 pigs tested.

The Vietnam Academy of Agriculture Sciences’ research teams has also created a new vaccine piloted at three pig farms in the northern provinces of Hung Yen, Ha Nam, and Thai Binh. Of the total vaccinated animals, 16 out of 18 sows and all 15 pigs for meat were in healthy condition after two months, with some of the sows giving birth to healthy piglets.