Vietnam will export a home-grown vaccine against African swine fever, AVAC ASF LIVE, to India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Philippines under newly-signed contracts.

During a ceremony on October 22, the AVAC Vietnam JSC, which is authorized to produce the vaccine for commercial use, signed export contracts with partners from the five countries: Indian Immunologicals Ltd (India), PT Putra Perkasa Genetika (Indonesia), Yenher Agro-Products Sdn Bhd (Malaysia), Earlybirds Delivery Service Limited (Myanmar), and Kpp Powers Commodities Inc. (Philippines).

According to AVAC Vietnam Director General Nguyen Van Diep, AVAC ASF LIVE is one of two African swine fever vaccines co-developed in Vietnam by Vietnamese companies and researchers from the US.

“Livestock farming in general and pig farming in particular make considerable contributions to Vietnam’s agricultural sector growth,” Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said in remarks at the ceremony. “Vietnam lost 6 million pigs in 2019 due to African swine fever. Therefore, disease prevention and control is a crucial element and leading solution to accelerate the growth of livestock farming, especially pig farming.”

According to the agriculture ministry, over 650,000 doses of the vaccine had been tested on pig herds in 40 localities around the country as of the end of July, with an efficacy rate of 95 per cent.