Vietnam from self-reliance to veterinary vaccine export

Vietnam's veterinary industry has made an important mark by successfully producing and exporting many types of vaccines, contributing to protecting animal health and enhancing the country's position in the international arena.

Forum scene

On December 28, the Department of Animal Health, the Department of Science, Technology and Environment, and relevant units in coordination with the Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper organized the Forum "Application of new advances in the field of veterinary vaccines in Vietnam".

Along with the livestock industry is the vaccine industry.

Speaking at the opening of the forum, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Environment (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) emphasized that, in the context of many disease variants as present, disease control in barns and livestock herds must be carried out strictly and protected.

According to Ms. Thuy: "Vaccine is an effective measure in minimizing damage, helping output products meet disease safety and food safety (FS) standards. Using vaccines not only helps reduce infectious diseases but also ensures a safe livestock farming process."

Over the past years, thanks to the continuous progress and results of vaccine research over the centuries, both humans and animals have benefited, contributing to protecting public health and ensuring world food security. Along with the livestock industry is the vaccine industry.

Mr. Nguyen Dang Dai, Department of Animal Health (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hung Yen province), said that the locality was the first place to detect African swine fever. In the process of preventing and fighting the epidemic, the province has combined many measures to contain the epidemic.

Currently, Hung Yen is applying 8 types of vaccines to prevent and fight the epidemic, divided into 2 phases per year, over a total period of 6 months. "With the types of vaccines that are bid, using vaccines is very good," Mr. Dai shared.

Mr. Dang Van Hiep, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Thanh Hoa province, said that the province has determined to invest the budget to buy important vaccines, especially 5,000 doses of AVAC's African swine fever vaccine, H5N6 vaccine and others.

According to Mr. Hiep, Thanh Hoa has always been at the forefront of quarantine work, implementing vaccination for both farm households and small-scale livestock households under the close management and supervision of veterinary staff. At the same time, proactively stockpiling vaccine sources and implementing rapid prevention to prevent widespread disease outbreaks. Thanks to that, Thanh Hoa has now basically controlled the disease situation.

Mr. Nguyen Van Long - Director of the Department of Animal Health (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) emphasized the importance of producing veterinary vaccines domestically to deal with the increasing epidemic situation in animals in Vietnam. Epidemics in livestock, poultry and wild animals are increasing, although African swine fever and epidemics in cattle are currently basically under control.

The Director of the Department of Animal Health also affirmed that the use of vaccines is extremely important and necessary in disease control and recommended that the departments of animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, aquaculture and related enterprises need to cooperate closely in disease control, especially dangerous infectious diseases.

Boosting vaccine production and export

Mr. Le Toan Thang - Head of Veterinary Medicine Management Department, Department of Animal Health (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) shared that currently, Vietnam has 92 veterinary medicine production facilities meeting GMP-WHO, of which 12 facilities produce veterinary vaccines; the investment level is about 30-40 million USD/factory (VAKSINDO, HANVET, NAVETCO, DABACO...). The laboratories of the Department of Animal Health have achieved biosafety level II or higher, of which 2 laboratories have biosafety level III; the veterinary sector has 7 laboratories with biosafety level III.

Vietnam's veterinary vaccine research and production units are constantly strengthening international cooperation and transferring science and technology with the world's leading countries such as the United States, EU, Japan, Australia, Korea, China, Americas... with the most advanced technologies; scientists, organizations such as FAO, WOAH, international partners such as the US Department of Agriculture, CDC, international reference laboratories for dangerous animal diseases such as avian influenza, foot and mouth disease, blue ear disease, African swine fever, rabies.

Currently, the country has 12 enterprises researching and producing animal vaccines that meet GMP-WHO standards with a total of 218 types of vaccines and 340 types of imported vaccines that have met the needs of disease prevention in livestock and poultry in the country.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Vietnam has quickly joined the race to produce veterinary vaccines; has produced a number of important disease prevention vaccines such as: Avian influenza (NAVET-VIFLUVAC) in 2012); blue ear disease vaccine since 2015; foot-and-mouth disease vaccine since 2018; rabies vaccine since 2019 and most recently, African swine fever vaccine (NAVET-ASFVAC and AVAC ASF LIVE) in 2022.

In particular, Vietnam has successfully produced and officially exported the African swine fever vaccine AVAC ASF LIVE of AVAC Vietnam Joint Stock Company to 5 countries, marking a great achievement recognized by the world.

In the coming time, with the achievements and marks that have been recognized by the world, Vietnam has great potential to continue developing and creating new vaccines to meet the needs of protecting the health of livestock and consumers.

"With the trend of socializing resources and the strong participation of businesses, the Vietnamese veterinary and livestock industry is ready to apply advanced technologies and develop modern vaccines," Ms. Thuy shared.

Mr. Nguyen Van Long emphasized that the strong development of vaccine technology in the world creates opportunities for Vietnam to learn and cooperate. Significant developments in scientific and technological cooperation and Vietnam's vaccine production technology have reached world level.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/viet-nam-tu-tu-chu-den-xuat-khau-vaccine-thu-y-159417.html