NATIONAL Unity Party (NUP) president LRay Villafuerte has called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to step on the gas on their respective accreditation and then purchase of vaccines already proven effective against the African Swine Fever (ASF), following President Marcos’ own pitch that an inoculation drive could revitalize the hog industry whose population has been decimated by this highly contagious viral disease.
“The FDA and BAI need to hit the gas with this vaccination drive to put an end to the wholesale deaths and selective slaughter of hogs, allow swine raisers to recover and repopulate their farms or backyards, and eventually stabilize the supply and cost of pork products in the local market,” said Villafuerte, the congressman from CamSur that is one of the ASF-hit provinces in the country.
He said “the FDA must speed up the registration process for the local commercial use of the Vietnamese-made vaccine, which President Marcos said has been proven 80% effective against the ASF; and the BAI, as soon as the drug is accredited by the FDA, has to accelerate its acquisition of the shots and subsequent implementation of the inoculation program nationwide.”
“The FDA and BAI should do these things double-quick, lest we end up stuck with the same logistics woes at the height of the coronavirus pandemic wherein certain delays in the documentary requirements for the procurement and indemnification processes had moved back the acquisition and roll out of the anti-Covid vaccination program for the targeted 70 million beneficiary-Filipinos to reach herd immunity,” he said.
Villafuerte stressed that, “Speed is of the essence in this mass vaccination plan that was announced by the President himself last month, given that BAI officials have said that the Vietnamese supplier has committed 600,000 doses only for the Philippines for 2023 against the backdrop of many other countries also wanting to procure their own anti-ASF shots at the soonest.”
A recent Reuters report said, though, that Vietnam will actually export two million vaccine doses to the Philippines this year, but there has been no confirmation from the BAI on this higher volume.
Villafuerte noted that the President, in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), and at a national livestock event before that, had pointed to a vaccination program as key to revitalizing the livestock industry that continue to stagger from the ASF and Avian Influenza (AI) or bird flu outbreaks that have been around for years.
Such animal diseases have drastically reduced domestic stocks and caused upward spirals in the retail prices of pork and chicken products, Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte noted that the President, in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), and at a national livestock event before that, had pointed to a vaccination program as key to revitalizing the livestock industry that continue to stagger from the ASF and Avian Influenza (AI) or bird flu outbreaks that have been around for years.
Such animal diseases have drastically reduced domestic stocks and caused upward spirals in the retail prices of pork and chicken products, Villafuerte said.
pagandahin pa natin, palakihin pa natin, make it more efficient, make it more streamlined.”
President Marcos’ endorsement of the anti-ASF vaccine came after BAI Assistant Director Arlene Vytiaco announced in June that the Bureau was pushing the Vietnam-made Avac Live vaccine after the 100%-success of the field trials conducted on pigs in six areas in Luzon over the March-May period.
Vytiaco said at a press briefing that, “The safety and efficacy trials in Luzon showed that the hogs that have been injected produced 100% antibodies and has no side effects on animals. We have endorsed it (vaccine) to the FDA for the issuance of CPR (Certificate of Product Registration),” which will authorize its commercial release in the country.
