Should the African Swine Fever (ASF) vaccine be found to be ineffective, the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday, Sept. 19, said it will immediately suspend the controlled inoculation of hogs in the country.
The country is currently conducting controlled vaccination of the ASF vaccine in Batangas, which has been badly struck by highly fate disease. As of Sept. 6, 7,900 pigs infected with ASF have been culled in Batangas.
“Pero again, ‘yung monitored release, titingnan natin kung effective; kung hindi effective, canceled; kung effective, tuloy (But again, the monitored release will determine if it is effective; if it is not effective, it will be canceled; if it is effective, it will continue),” Assistant Secretary for Swine and Poultry, Constante “Dante” Palabrica, said during a radio interview.
“Dahil ito ay babalansehin ng FDA (Food and Drug Administration) at ‘yung private group ng scientists—doon namin ibabato ang lahat ng data na makukuha namin, at sila ang magsasabi kung maayos or hindi (Because it will be balanced by the FDA and the private group of scientists—there we will throw all the data we can get, and they will say whether it is good or not),” he added.
The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), according to Palabrica, is circumspect when it comes to the ASF vaccine.
“Maingat na maingat ang BAI tungkol dito. Kaya kahit na gusto na madaliin nila, hindi namin minamadali ang pagbabakuna nito (BAI is very cautious about this. So even though they want to hurry, we don't rush its vaccination),” he said.
“We have to protect ‘yung taxpayers money rito. Hindi puwedeng bibili tayo ng gamot o bakuna na kapag nakita nating wala sa ayos at tuloy-tuloy nating gagamitin (We have to protect the taxpayers' money. We cannot buy medicine or vaccine when we see something is wrong and we will continue to use it).”
Palabrica stated that the ASF vaccine from Vietnam has been used in large farms and proven successful, but the agriculture department wants to validate it to be cautious.
The DA, he said, is targeting to administer the ASF vaccine to about 1,500 pigs in Batangas province this September.
For the controlled use of the ASF vaccine, the government has allocated 10,000 doses for Batangas province.
Recently, Palabrica announced that the majority of the pigs inoculated with the ASF vaccine in Batangas province have developed antibodies within 14 days of inoculation.
He told the Manila Bulletin that 60 percent of the inoculated hogs produced antibodies.
“After 14 days kukuha ulit ng dugo upang makita na ‘yung negative magiging positive. Hindi sabay-sabay sila nag react—normal ‘yan [na] reaction (After 14 days, blood will be drawn again to see if the negative ones will turn positive. They don't all react at the same time—that's a normal reaction),” the DA official said.
The DA had earlier clarified that the six pigs inoculated died due to their preexisting conditions.
Assistant Secretary Arnel De Mesa, the spokesperson of the DA, said one of the six pigs was crippled while the five others were suffering from pulmonary ailments that were not disclosed before the vaccination.
The ASF vaccine was first administered in Lobo, Batangas on Aug. 30 wherein small-hold and backyard hog-raisers were prioritized.
It can be recalled that the Philippine government has allocated ₱300 million to purchase 600,000 doses of the ASF vaccine from Vietnam.