Targets prototypes by 2028
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has inaugurated a vaccine unit at the Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (CenTrAD) in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija that targets the production of vaccine prototypes for the protection of livestock by 2028.
In a statement released yesterday, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel called the project the government’s commitment to “a stronger and healthier future” for the livestock and poultry industries.
“The National Animal Vaccination Program is about empowerment—empowering our farmers with knowledge, our veterinarians with resources, and our nation with the assurance that we are building a stronger, healthier future. It is a testament to the power of science, the importance of collaboration, and the undeniable truth that prevention is always better than cure,” said Tiu Laurel about the inauguration held on Tuesday, April 8.
The agency said the new unit will develop shots to immunize animals against infectious diseases, particularly African swine fever (ASF), foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and avian influenza (AI), and aims to deliver vaccine prototypes by 2028, or sooner.
The DA said the vaccine unit at the facility is part of the agency’s allocation of P151 million for a three-year vaccine development program, which would include the procurement of the government’s first Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory for the research on microbes, both indigenous and exotic, that can cause serious or potentially lethal diseases through inhalation.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. also explained that while vaccines for ASF, AI and FMD are available internationally, locally developed vaccines based on indigenous strains tend to be more effective in preventing outbreaks.
The country is still considered free from FMD but has already been hit with ASF and AI. Losses due to ASF alone had exceeded P200 billion since its first outbreak in th;e Philippines in 2019, said the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines. The DA is targeting to bring back the hog population to 14 million by 2028.
The CenTrAD is jointly managed by the Bureau of Animal Industry and the Central Luzon State University, which currently leads in the diagnosis, surveillance, research, and technology development related to transboundary animal diseases, the DA said.
The CenTrAD was completed in 2022 with an estimated cost of P230 million and houses laboratories for microbiology, virology, parasitology, histopathology and molecular assays, along with an epidemiology training and digital analysis room.
