The Ukrainian Pig Association (UPA) is concerned about false information and manipulation of data around the situation with the registration of the African swine fever (ASF) vaccine candidate in the country, as such actions damage the reputation of the industry and pursue the lobbying of financial interests of individual stakeholders, the association said in a statement.
“Recognizing the importance of the vaccine as one of the tools for controlling ASF, the ASU enterprises do not see the possibility of compromise on the issue of safety (…) The candidate vaccine against ASF produced in Vietnam (AVAC Vietnam Joint Stock Corporation), which is being sought to be registered in Ukraine, does not have a confirmed status of a safe product today, which carries potential risks of worsening the epizootic situation in the country,” the statement posted on the ASU website reads.
As arguments, the association cites the warnings of the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) about the risks associated with the use of vaccines with unconfirmed safety and efficacy status. According to the WOAH, none of the candidates currently have a vaccine status because they have not passed the verification process.
In addition, the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced the removal of the ASFV-G-ΔMGF strain (used to create the AVACASFLive vaccine) and ASFV-G-Δ9GL/ΔMGF from the list of microorganisms allowed to be imported into the United States, as APHIS analyzed new information on safety and genomic instability that could lead to a recovery of virulence and determined that these strains could pose a serious threat to animal health and animal product safety.
The Evaluation of African swine fever vaccine candidate ASFV-G-∆MGF in reversion to virulence study also confirmed that the ASFV-G-∆MGF vaccine virus used to create the AVACASFLive vaccine regains virulence (ability to infect).
The study Challenges in the Application of African Swine Fever Vaccines in Asia indicates that the ASFV-GUS-Vietnam strain, identical to ASFV-G-ΔMGF (used to create the vaccine), plays a role in the ASFV epidemic situation in Vietnam. It was discovered in 2021, before the vaccine was registered in Vietnam. This proves that the illegal use of inappropriate vaccines can not only contribute to the spread of the disease, but also promote the emergence of new variants in regions in addition to the risk of recombination between different ASF genotypes.
“Today, the issue of registering an ASF vaccine candidate in Ukraine is not limited to the risks of an individual enterprise that decides to use a product whose safety has not been proven. We are talking about the consequences for the epizootic situation in the country and neighboring countries, the impact on foreign trade in pig products, and Ukraine’s integration into the EU,” the USBA emphasized and called for not supporting the initiative to register a Vietnamese-made vaccine given the risks and lack of evidence of its safety and quality.
Source: http://asu.pigua.info/news/1565/?type=asu
