New African Swine Fever Vaccines Approved for Sale in Vietnam: Major Breakthrough in Fight Against Deadly Pig Disease

Two vaccines against African swine fever tested in Vietnam are to be approved, world veterinary officials said. The new sera represent a major advance in the fight against the deadly disease, which is wreaking havoc on pig farms around the world.

African swine fever has been troubling the $250 billion pork market for years. In the worst outbreak of 2018-2019, about half of China’s domestic pig population perished as the country is the world’s largest producer, causing losses estimated at more than $100 billion.

Gregorio Torres, head of science at the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), told Reuters that after decades of failed attempts due to the complexity of the virus, two vaccines jointly developed by US scientists, tested in large pilot schemes by Vietnamese companies, give “very promising” results.

“We’ve never been this close to getting a vaccine that could work,” Torres said, adding that the two vaccines have “probably the best chance of succeeding” and being approved for sale worldwide.

Both vaccines have received approval in Vietnam for pilot commercial use. The next step will be national authorization, first for an African swine fever vaccine, and then eventual international commercialization.

The US is also interested in the vaccine

US Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack said there may be interest in precautionary purchases in the United States, despite the fact that there have been no cases of swine fever in the country.

“There will obviously be some interest,” Vilsack said in an interview with Reuters in April, talking about possible vaccine purchases from Vietnam.

Testing of the vaccines took place in Vietnam, as in the USA, these sera could not be administered due to the absence of the virus.

As of 2021, African swine fever, which has not proven fatal to humans, has been reported in nearly 50 countries and has killed an estimated 1.3 million pigs, WOAH said in a report released last week.

There are currently no major outbreaks, but agribusiness lender Rabobank warned in April that the possible spread of the disease, particularly in China, remained among the top risks for the global pork industry.

African swine fever vaccines tested on pig herds

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers analyzed the results of one of the vaccines, NAVET-ASFVAC, which they developed together with Vietnamese company Navetco (VET.HNO), according to a USDA spokesman.

600,000 doses were approved for initial sales to pig farms in Vietnam, the first 40,000 of which “were delivered without safety concerns” after the vaccine showed a high level of efficacy and no safety risks according to studies.

The efforts paid off after there were initially problems that led to the suspension of the vaccine’s use. Last summer, dozens of pigs died from the vaccine on farms where it was used off-label because pigs from at-risk categories, such as pregnant sows, were injected. After deliveries resumed with proper veterinary monitoring, no problems occurred, the USDA said.

NAVET-ASFVAC is a live attenuated virus vaccine like those used in routine childhood vaccinations worldwide. The use of unlicensed live virus vaccines in China in recent years has raised concerns about the possible emergence of new strains of swine fever. Limited information is available from China’s trials of a live virus vaccine in swine fever.

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

NAVETCO, AVAC and Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture, which is responsible for approving veterinary vaccines, did not comment.