Mr. Nguyen Van Diep - General Director of AVAC Vietnam Joint Stock Company - discussed with reporters and the press about this issue.
Could you tell us how AVAC's African swine fever vaccine (AVAC ASF LIVE vaccine) is going so far, especially in export markets?
Up to this point, the company has still fully supplied vaccines to the needs of the Vietnamese market and Southeast Asian countries. In Vietnam, some provinces have also started mass vaccination such as Cao Bang, Lang Son, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong and so far the results have been very good. Vaccines are entering the market slowly, however, demand has started to increase since the end of this year as people see the effectiveness of the models.
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| Will continue exporting African swine fever vaccine to the Philippines. Photo: Nguyen Hanh |
Regarding the export market, in August 2024, we also exported 160,000 doses of AVAC ASF LIVE vaccine to the Philippines market. The Philippine government and specifically the Philippine Department of Agriculture purchased this quantity, and they implemented controlled vaccination for small and medium-sized livestock farms first.
Initially, they were also very cautious and evaluated this vaccine on about 41 pigs on 2 farms. The results showed that the vaccine protected the majority of pigs on those farms and the immunity rate reached over 90%.
From the above results, they have now deployed it to commercial farms, larger farms. At the same time, they have completed the process of evaluating vaccines on sows, as well as the bidding process to purchase vaccines from AVAC's distributor in the Philippines.
It is expected that this December, they will continue to import another shipment from AVAC. At the same time, from December 4-7, the Director of the Philippine Department of Animal Health, representatives of Philippine livestock and veterinary associations will come to Vietnam to work with AVAC and visit AVAC's ASF LIVE vaccine injection models in Vietnam.
In addition to the Philippines, Nigeria has imported 5,000 doses for evaluation and so far has shown good results, they are completing the process to register in Nigeria. Some other countries such as Indonesia have been allowed to import vaccines for testing. Currently, AVAC's partner in Indonesia is deploying farm arrangements to conduct experimental vaccination of pigs according to the instructions of the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture before they proceed to import the vaccine.
Many countries have registered for circulation such as India, Nepal, Malaysia and Myanmar and are waiting for the Government's decision.
One difficulty in exporting vaccines is that they are currently waiting for guidance from the World Organisation for Animal Health on vaccine evaluation. It is expected that the World Organisation for Animal Health will make this evaluation around May 2025 at the earliest.
Countries are waiting for more information on vaccine deployment. Reporting the success of this vaccine in Vietnam and other countries, including the Philippines, is an important, independent, objective model for other countries to consider and make their own decisions.
What about the domestic market, sir? Do you monitor the number of doses administered as well as the level and effectiveness of the vaccine?
To date, we have introduced about 3 million doses of vaccine to the market, with a protection rate of over 90% of vaccinated pigs. Usually in the early stages, localities will bring vaccines to high-risk areas where outbreaks are occurring. When brought to these areas, the protective effect of the vaccine will be limited because the vaccine is used for prevention, not treatment.
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| Mr. Nguyen Van Diep - General Director of AVAC Vietnam Joint Stock Company. Photo: NH |
In areas that have not been infected, in safe areas, and have not had outbreaks, the vaccine is very effective. For example, in Lang Son, over 60,000 doses have been injected within 3 months, the results show that the outbreak has been reduced by more than 90% and the disease has been well controlled. There are only sporadic outbreaks in sows and breeding pigs due to lack of vaccination, because this vaccine is mainly used for pigs. This result has also been reported by the Lang Son Veterinary Department to the province and proposed to include this vaccine in the annual mandatory vaccination list in the locality.
In Cao Bang, about 100,000 doses have been injected and the results show that this vaccine is also very good for pigs. The vaccine is also safe when 20,000 doses have been injected in Bac Ninh and recently in Quang Ngai and Hai Duong.
In some places, we supported the vaccination of 2,000 - 3,000 doses such as in Quang Ninh and Tien Giang. The results reported that the vaccine was very safe and good for the pigs.
In the context that businesses and people are still cautious about vaccination because this is a new vaccine, as a vaccine manufacturer, what recommendations do you have for livestock farmers?
As a vaccine manufacturer, we confirm that the vaccine is safe and provides very good protection against the main strains currently circulating on the market. Currently, there are some variants that the vaccine protects against more limitedly, however, those strains are circulating at a low rate.
Again, vaccines are an effective solution among many solutions to help protect the pig herd. However, vaccines are only effective when we give them at the right time, to the right target, and in a synchronous combination with other solutions. Vaccines are recommended for pigs from 4 weeks of age and older.
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| Testing the quality of African swine fever vaccine. Photo: Nguyen Hanh |
One of the major obstacles for small and medium-sized farmers is that the African swine fever vaccine is not yet recommended for use in sows and breeding pigs. Currently, AVAC has completed the process. The company is carrying out registration procedures with the Department of Animal Health (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) to officially approve the use of the vaccine for sows and breeding pigs, helping to increase the range of use and protection, thereby helping farmers to be more confident, especially small and medium-sized farming models.
When it is applied to sows and breeding pigs, the implementation of vaccination in livestock households will be expanded, because currently, most small and medium-sized livestock households often raise both breeding pigs and pigs for meat together, at that time, applying vaccines in such models will be better.
In particular, with state management agencies, provinces implementing mass vaccination will easily carry out this vaccine injection.
For large farms and companies, we know that this is a new vaccine and they are very cautious and have to evaluate many levels, many ages, collect information about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine closely. However, we believe that this vaccine will be used in large farms and companies sooner or later.
Does AVAC have any strategy to strengthen cooperation with large enterprises in the livestock sector in Vietnam to widely distribute this vaccine in Vietnam, sir?
To spread the effectiveness of the African swine fever vaccine to farmers, AVAC is coordinating with state management agencies and related units to organize a series of seminars, training courses and pilot models. After seeing that the vaccine is safe and effective, these localities will have larger plans to expand the model.
In addition, AVAC strengthens the implementation of vaccination for livestock farmers, at the same time, coordinates with large livestock enterprises and animal feed enterprises.
Recently, AVAC also cooperated with CP Vietnam Livestock Joint Stock Company to organize seminars to help CP Vietnam Livestock Joint Stock Company's technical staff understand the characteristics of the vaccine, thereby bringing this vaccine closer to customers. Thanks to that, about 50 livestock farms, customers of CP Vietnam, have been tested and achieved very good results, with many households successfully selling, the subjects used include both meat pigs and breeding pigs.
This is one of the models of cooperation between AVAC and animal feed companies in introducing this vaccine to farmers. And when these agents have experienced and seen the results of safety and protection of the vaccine, they will be an important factor in introducing this vaccine to customers and farmers.
We hope that in the coming time, the popularity of this vaccine among livestock farmers will increase rapidly.
Thank you!
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