June 8, 2023

 

Vietnam-tested ASF vaccine may soon get approval, according to US veterinary officials

 

 

Vaccines against African swine fever (ASF) being tested in Vietnam are close to approval, global and US veterinary officials said, in what would be a major breakthrough to tackle the disease that regularly ravages pig farms worldwide.

 

After decades of failed development attempts due to the complexity of the virus, two vaccines, which are co-developed by US scientists  and tested in large pilot schemes by Vietnamese companies, are showing "very promising" results, said Gregorio Torres, head of the science department at the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

 

"We have never been so close to get a vaccine that may work," Torres said, noting the two shots had "probably the highest chances to succeed" and be authorised for sale worldwide.

 

Both vaccines have received approval in Vietnam for pilot commercial use. The next step will be nationwide authorisation, the first ever for an ASF vaccine and possible sales overseas.

 

US agriculture secretary Thomas Vilsack said there was likely to be interest in precautionary purchases in the United States, despite the country having so far been spared from the virus.

 

"There will be a specific interest, obviously," Vilsack said in an interview with Reuters in April, speaking about potential purchases of the Vietnamese vaccines.

 

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers had reviewed the results of one of the vaccines, NAVET-ASFVAC, which they co-developed with Vietnamese company NAVETCO (VET.HNO), a USDA spokesperson said.

 

After the vaccine showed a high level of efficacy and no safety risks in trials, 600,000 doses were approved for initial sales to pig farmers in Vietnam, of which the first 40,000 "have been delivered without any safety problems," the USDA said.

 

That followed an initial hiccup when use of the vaccine was suspended after dozens of pigs died last summer following inoculations in farms that used the vaccine off-label, administering it to hogs — specifically, pregnant sows — that were not supposed to be inoculated, the USDA explained.

 

No problems emerged after deliveries resumed with adequate veterinary monitoring.

 

The second vaccine tested in Vietnam, AVAC ASF LIVE, which was discovered by US researchers and commercialised by Vietnamese firm AVAC, has been delivered to more pigs than NAVET-ASFVAC under its pilot deployment, but the USDA said it had not yet reviewed the data.

 

- Reuters