THE Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) has revealed that African Swine Fever (ASF) vaccines arrived in the country as early as 2023 and were found to have already expired.
The group is now worried that these could be used in the upcoming vaccination efforts by the Department of Agriculture in areas affected by the virus. However, the DA has issued a clarification regarding this matter.
The pigs are now quiet, clearly feeling their pain. Almost none of them are moving, only a few left. Later, all of you will be hauled away and depopulated.
This is the condition of pigs when they are hit by a deadly disease like ASF.
Some of the symptoms of ASF include the loss of appetite in pigs and bleeding, which can be seen through red skin, particularly on the ears and other areas.
In the province of Batangas, hundreds of pigs were buried after being infected with ASF.
Due to this, the entire province of Batangas has declared a State of Calamity because of the impact of ASF on the province.
This follows the reported cases of the virus in eight areas in the province of Batangas.
However, the Department of Agriculture (DA) previously stated that 600,000 doses of vaccines are planned to procure to help prevent the spread of ASF in the country.
The agency plans to purchase 10,000 doses of the vaccine through emergency procurement, which will first be distributed in Batangas.
However, SINAG discovered that 150,000 doses of the vaccine had already been in the country since last year.
These were imported by a Vietnamese company in anticipation of approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The company was unsuccessful, resulting in the vaccine not being used and eventually expiring in March 2024.
The group is now concerned that these expired vaccines might be used by the government in their controlled vaccination efforts, especially since the expiration date has allegedly been extended until December.
“We immediately objected to the use of these vaccines because the government bought them. This means that if you vaccinate pigs already infected with ASF using the strain from Vietnam, there could be a mutation,” according to Engr. Rosendo So, Chairman, SINAG.
SINAG also urged the FDA to release results on the expired vaccines to determine if they should be destroyed, similar to what was done with expired vaccines during the pandemic.
“The upcoming vaccine should have an expiration date of one year, that’s what we’re looking at. The FDA should provide results on the remaining vaccines to determine the next steps so that we don’t encounter problems, as we are not yet sure what will happen if these vaccines are disposed of in the country,” So added.
DA admits ASF vaccines arrived in 2023
The Department of Agriculture has clarified this issue.
“The government will not buy expired vaccines.”
“New batches will be sent again. Definitely, the vaccines will be good for 2 years upon arrival.”
“The government hasn’t purchased anything yet; there’s nothing currently in the government’s procurement process,” Asec. Arnel de Mesa, Spokesperson, DA stated.
According to the agency, there is no need to worry if an area is under a State of Calamity due to ASF.
They say this would help control the smuggling of infected pigs and strengthen border control.