Swine industry groups urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to mass use Vietnam-manufactured African swine fever (ASF) vaccines instead of their monitored release to combat the virus.

In a letter to Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Tiu Laurel Jr., the group led by AGAP Partylist Representative Nicanor Briones urged Marcos to declare the ASF outbreak a national emergency to enable the mass use of ASF vaccines.

The group underscored that the same vaccine has previously been tested in Vietnam and the Philippines, posing favorable results, noting that 34 piglets showed 40 percent antibody levels following the controlled hog vaccination in Lobo, Batangas.

Approximately 6.3 million piglets and fatteners could be inoculated if the emergency use authorization of the ASF vaccine is approved, said the group.

“We will study their request, which will allow greater access to the ASF vaccine for backyard piggeries,” Laurel said after meeting with the swine industry groups last week.

Among those who signed the letter were the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc., Cooperative Union of Batangas, SoroSoro Ibaba Development Cooperative, Luntian Multipurpose Cooperative, LIMCOMA Multipurpose Cooperative and Cavite Farmers Feedmilling and Marketing Cooperative.

The government is eyeing completing the procurement of 600,000 doses of the ASF vaccine by year-end.

Laurel earlier said that hog inoculation using the initial 10,000 ASF vaccines would be finished by September, while the schedule for delivery of 450,000 ASF doses will be on 10 October 2024.