Use vaccines effectively in the process of preventing animal disease

Mobilizing forces to put a solid end to disease outbreaks

According to the Department of Animal Health (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), starting from August, African swine fever has been on the rise, negatively affecting the livestock industry and meat supply. There have been 350 outbreaks in 44 provinces and cities, and approximately 20,000 pigs have been discarded.

Faced with the complicated developments of African swine fever, the Prime Minister issued an urgent dispatch, requesting the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development specifically the Department of Animal Health, and localities throughout the country to quickly implement measures to prevent the epidemics and ensure meat supply during the Lunar New Year 2024.

Experts believe that one of the important solutions in this period is to mobilize local resources to organize and completely handle outbreaks, preventing new outbreaks from arising. Localities should also increase vaccination for farms and small livestock households, creating a "steel shield" in preventing African swine fever.

With a total herd of over 200,000 pigs, mostly concentrated in farming households, recently Tra Vinh province has been coordinating many solutions such as biosafe farming and increasing vaccination to prevent disease in pigs.

Truong Cong Ly, Head of Disease Management Division, Tra Vinh Sub-department of Livestock Production and Animal Health said, “The locality has deployed 1,197 doses of vaccine in Cang Long and Cau Ke districts. Healthy pigs from 4 weeks of age or older are only vaccinated once. As for the vaccination process on the pig herd, the Sub-department has coordinated with AVAC company to vaccinate 1,200 pigs. After that, samples are taken for testing and all samples have antibodies as a result, which meets the requirements”.

With African swine fever showing signs of a resurgence, Nguyen Kim Doan, Vice Chairman of Dong Nai Livestock Association, requested that specialized agencies and companies with vaccines increase support for livestock farms, to avoid potential damage to the livestock industry in general.

Putting the epidemics under control, ensuring supply for the market

In July 2023, the African swine fever vaccine produced by AVAC Vietnam Joint Stock Company was officially sold on the market. The company has also cooperated with professional and state management agencies to introduce these products to localities.

Nguyen Van Diep, General Director of AVAC Vietnam JSC, said, “When African swine fever occurs, the most vulnerable are small farmers. We will therefore focus on introducing and bringing vaccines to small and medium-sized farms as well as farming households first to prevent epidemics effectively and protect the health of pig herds”.

Reports from localities show that African swine fever is once again on the rise. Farmers are reluctant to re-herd, so performing a variety of solutions to control the disease situation is a matter of great urgency to the agricultural sector.

According to Nguyen Van Long, Director of the Department of Animal Health (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), Vietnam has licensed 2 African swine fever vaccine products with 1.5 million doses injected. “Localities need to conduct vaccination reviews and additional vaccination sessions, with special emphasis on African swine fever vaccination for pork herds, ensuring supply for the market,” said Director Long.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said that some provinces have recorded outbreaks of African swine fever. This epidemic has a characteristic of very rapid transmission, the Ministry has thus directed working groups to go to localities to quickly grasp the situation and provide guidance on disease prevention.

"Pig prices have been increasing recently, but if we use vaccines well, we can secure meat supply for the upcoming Lunar New Year. This year the market is expecting over 7.6 million tons of meat of all kinds. With such output along with 15.8 billion eggs and 1.28 million tons of milk, there will be no shortage of supply before, during, and after Tet," said Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien.