Urgent vaccination for ASF sought

Swine-raising industry groups have called upon the Department of Agriculture (DA) to speed up the vaccination process against African Swine Fever (ASF).

In the meantime, the groups, consisting of the Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines (AGAP), National Federation of Hog Farmers (NFHF), and Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines (PPFP), praised DA Secretary Francis Tiu-Laurel Jr.'s efforts to contain ASF through the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI). 

“Our groups extoll Sec. Laurel for the immediate rollout of the vaccination process. Hog raisers have already lost several millions of their hard-earned money due to ASF. However, we also wanted a speedy process regarding the inoculation process of pigs,” said AGAP Partylist Representative Nick Briones, who owns a swine business in the province of Batangas.

Last Friday, the DA-BAI rolled out the first government-controlled vaccination against ASF in Lobo, Batangas, five years after the onset of the ASF outbreak in the Philippines in 2019.

DA Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said commencing the rollout of the 10,000 doses of emergency-procured ASF AVAC live vaccines is a realization of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s statement during his third State of the Nation Address.

NFHF chairman and president Chester Tan is confident that the ASF vaccine can resolve the ongoing infestation of the virus.

For his part, Rolando Tambago, president of PPFP also sought for a speedy and unhampered vaccination program not just in Batangas but in other provinces where hog raising is a bread and butter.

 “Backyard hog raisers are now in a dire situation, that is why we are asking for the DA-BAI to also prioritize them. They are the ones that have small capital to continue their businesses. Kapag namatayan sila ng isang baboy dahil sa ASF, mauubos ang mga yun at luging-lugi sila,” he said.

 Moreover, the groups said the government should also deputize vaccinators in the local government units, in collaboration with agriculture cooperatives and private veterinarians in the inoculation of pigs.

 “Accredited laboratories of DA-BAI should also be allowed to do blood testing on swine as a preventive measure against ASF. Through this, the whole hog-raising industry will be assured that their hogs and swine will be protected from the virus,” said Briones.

Further, the groups also hope that the DA and the Food and Drug Administration will allow the commercial use of the hog jab to scale up protection and subsequent benefits for meat producers and consumers.

Apart from areas in Lobo, de Mesa said the DA-BAI will roll out its validation procedures to include all qualified farms in ring areas of Lobo, other towns in Batangas, and eventually red zones in the Calabarzon Region.

The DA reiterated that pigs set to receive shots must be healthy, negative for ASF, at least four weeks or older, of the same age group within a farm, and with a minimum of 50 pigs per farm or cluster.

To date, 458 villages in 15 regions are now under ASF red zones, with the highest number of affected barangays reported in North Cotabato at 87, Occidental Mindoro at 69, Batangas, and Quezon at 47.