Metro Manila, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is eyeing to complete the purchase of 600,000 doses of African Swine Fever (ASF) vaccines by the end of December.
“The first 10,000 doses will be finished, vaccination will be finished by the end of the month,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. told a Malacañang briefing on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
“And the schedule for the award for the next 450,000 doses is October 10, of which we will take delivery of 150,000 doses by then,” Laurel said.
The agriculture chief said the DA hopes that “everything will be implemented on schedule” and that the agency could focus on hog repopulation.
He said the agency targets to grow 14 million pigs. Current estimates of pig population show 7.5 million, Laurel said
The first batch of 10,000 doses of Vietnam-made AVAC ASF Live vaccine were brought to Lobo town in Batangas, which was considered a “ground zero” for the outbreak in July. It was through an emergency procurement.
The AVAC ASF Live vaccine will only be used by the government’s “controlled” rollout. Its certificate of product registration is only valid for two years subject to “strict monitoring and annual evaluation.”
The vaccination program is voluntary. Inoculation is only for healthy pigs.
As of Sept. 6, data from the Bureau of Animal Industry showed active ASF cases in 472 barangays across 31 provinces.
North Cotabato had the most barangays affected, followed by Batangas and Quezon with 96 and 91 ASF-hit villages, respectively.
