ASF vaccinations start next month

MANILA, Philippines — The vaccination of hogs in Batangas will start next week as the 10,000 doses of African swine fever (ASF) vaccine under emergency procurement will arrive today, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said.

“The vaccine will arrive and hopefully it will be immediately released from the airport so that we can start the vaccination by Tuesday,” Tiu Laurel said in an interview after meeting with Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas at the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Quezon City.

Tiu Laurel assured Mandanas yesterday of the efforts of the DA to address the spread of ASF in the province.

He also clarified the statement of Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa that the vaccination would begin in September.

“The 10,000 doses is too small for the whole province but if we can isolate two or three barangays, it is very helpful already,” he added.

He said the vaccination will start in Lobo as it is considered “ground zero.”

“The vaccination will be voluntary,” he said, adding that experts will monitor jabs daily.

At the same time, Tiu Laurel said the declaration of a national state of calamity is not needed.

“It will not help. Everything is in process already. We are set to purchase 600,000 doses of ASF vaccine,” he noted.

More ASF checkpoints

Tiu Laurel said the DA plans to increase the number of checkpoints in Metro Manila after several trucks were intercepted with hogs found to be positive for ASF.

At least 147 hogs that were recently confiscated at a checkpoint at Mindanao Ave. in Quezon City for fake permits tested positive for ASF, according to the DA.

At a press conference, De Mesa said the DA awaits the results of the test on 14 other hogs seized.

“Two trucks were intercepted and both came from Sariaya, Quezon and were bound for Pangasinan,” De Mesa added.

He said aside from Batangas, there were confirmed ASF cases in Quezon, Laguna and Rizal.

“This only proves that the border control is an effective way to prevent the spread of ASF,” De Mesa added.

Checkpoints along Commonwealth, Mindanao and Balintawak Avenues in Quezon City and in Marulas and Malanday in Valenzuela have been set up in Metro Manila as part of the government’s efforts to contain the outbreak of ASF.

De Mesa said charges are now being readied against the traders behind the shipment of the infected hogs.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary for swine and poultry Dante Palabrica said the trucks carrying the infected swine have been cleansed and disinfected to ensure the virus will not spread.

“The blood tests showed the hogs are positive for the ASF virus, so we have no choice but to condemn them and dispose of their carcass at the central burial site we have identified,” Palabrica said.

Another delivery truck from Sariaya, Quezon containing 60 ASF-positive hogs to be delivered to Bulacan was intercepted Thursday night at a checkpoint in Quezon City.

The swine were condemned and brought to the Provincial Engineering Office in Barangay Tabang in Guiguinto, Bulacan where they will be disposed of and buried. – Ramon Lazaro, Jasper Arcalas, Cecille Suerte Felipe