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Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte is calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to work double-time in the effort to roll out the African Swine Fever (ASF) vaccination drive on local hogs.

“The FDA and BAI need to hit the gas with this vaccination drive to put an end to the wholesale deaths and selective slaughter of hogs, allow swine raisers to recover and repopulate their farms or backyards, and eventually stabilize the supply and cost of pork products in the local market,” said Villafuerte.

Camarines Sur is among the provinces affected by the outbreak of ASF in the Philippines.

Villafuerte, majority leader of the powerful Commission on Appointments (CA) said that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos himself underscored that that an inoculation drive could revitalize the hog industry whose population has been decimated by this highly contagious disease.

"The FDA must speed up the registration process for the local commercial use of the Vietnamese-made vaccine, which President Marcos said has been proven 80 percent effective against the ASF," he said

"The BAI, as soon as the drug is accredited by the FDA, has to accelerate its acquisition of the shots and subsequent implementation of the inoculation program nationwide," Villafuerte said.

“Speed is of the essence in this mass vaccination plan that was announced by the President himself last month, given that BAI officials have said that the Vietnamese supplier has committed 600,000 doses only for the Philippines for 2023 against the backdrop of many other countries also wanting to procure their own anti-ASF shots," he further said.

A recent Reuters report said, though, that Vietnam will actually export two million vaccine doses to the Philippines this year, but there has been no confirmation from the BAI on this higher volume.