The Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking at procuring some 600,000 doses of African swine fever (ASF) vaccine by December this year, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said on Tuesday, Sept. 24.
(Photo from the Department of Agriculture)
“As far as ASF is concerned, the first 10,000 doses will be finished... the vaccination will be finished by end of the month 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,” he stated during the Palace media briefing.
“But we hope to complete the procurement of 600,000 doses by end of December this year,” the secretary added.
In August, the Philippines started the controlled trial of the ASF vaccine as part of its efforts to stop the spread of the ASF, which has been affecting the domestic hog industry since it was detected in 2019.
The government plans to inoculate even healthy pigs to curb the spread of the disease.
The DA earlier said it allocated P350 million for the procurement of the 600,000 doses of ASF vaccine for the trial, which will be done voluntarily and will prioritize small hog producers in areas with high cases of the disease.
Laurel underscored the importance of rolling out the ASF vaccines, especially to backyard farmers and livestock growers.
“Pag may confidence na ‘yung mga magbababoy sa vaccine na ito (If our hog producers have confidence on this vaccine), then they will start investing again in farms, pati iyong mga commercials natin at magre-repopulate (even our commercial producers will repopulate),” he said.
“Hopefully, everything will be implemented on schedule,” the official added.
The DA chief also expressed hope that Filipino hog farmers and producers will focus on repopulating next year to bring back the country’s pig population, which is currently at 7.5 million heads, to 14 million heads.
Asked if the DA expects pork prices to rise during the coming holiday season, Laurel downplayed any significant increase because hog producers are currently expediting the movement of pork meat in the market.
“But of course, demand in December is usually double, mataas. So, baka tumaas ng konti, pero hindi naman siguro significant (high. It may increase but maybe not that significant),” he said.