THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Tuesday that it is expecting to deploy 490,000 doses of the African Swine Fever (ASF) vaccine by mid-October.
“By Oct. 17-19, the (Bureau of Animal Industry) will issue a notice to proceed with the 490,000 doses that were procured,” Assistant Secretary and Spokesperson Arnel V. de Mesa told reporters.
The DA has allocated P350 million for the initial government-run trial, sufficient to fund about 600,000 vials of the ASF vaccine from Vietnam.
“With those doses, hopefully, we can offer additional protection to our pigs,” he added.
Mr. De Mesa said that despite the ongoing outbreak, the meat supply is expected to be sufficient until the year-end holidays.
“Our requirements this holiday season were programmed during the second quarter of the year,” he added.
Pork imports during the first half increased 10.7% to 316.99 million kilograms.
“The imported meats are starting to arrive or have already arrived,” he said.
“Although we still have ASF within affected areas, this would be easily compensated for by supply coming in from other countries,” Mr. De Mesa added.
As of Sept. 20, 125 municipalities across 31 provinces had active ASF cases, the BAI reported.
The DA has set up checkpoints to monitor the movement of hogs outside active ASF areas. It is allowing healthy hogs within ASF-affected areas to travel after proper verification. — Adrian H. Halili