Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
ASF vaccines approved in Vietnam but challenges remain
11 Plays2 years ago
Megan Niederwerder, associate director at the Swine Health Information Center, talks about developments in the production and distribution of two African swine fever vaccines in Vietnam.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of Megan Niederwerter
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Feed Strategy podcast.
00:00:08
Speaker
I'm your host, Feed Strategy senior reporter, Anne Roos.
00:00:12
Speaker
Megan Niederwerter is Associate Director at the Swine Health Information Center, or SHIC.
Development of ASF Vaccines in Vietnam
00:00:17
Speaker
She recently joined me to talk about the developments in the production and distribution of two African swine fever vaccines in Vietnam.
00:00:24
Speaker
We discussed the vaccines, how they will be administered, and what challenges they bring.
00:00:28
Speaker
We also talked about her upcoming transition to Executive Director at SHIC and what she's looking forward to in her new role.
00:00:34
Speaker
Here's our conversation.
00:00:35
Speaker
Hi, Megan.
00:00:36
Speaker
It's so nice to have you back on the podcast.
00:00:38
Speaker
It's nice to be here.
00:00:40
Speaker
Thanks for having me.
00:00:41
Speaker
We've recently learned that Vietnam has approved two vaccines for African swine fever for domestic use.
00:00:47
Speaker
What can you tell me about these vaccines?
00:00:48
Speaker
How were they developed and how safe and effective are they?
00:00:51
Speaker
Yes, this is really a groundbreaking new development in that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Vietnam has
00:00:59
Speaker
has officially approved the domestic commercial use of these two locally manufactured vaccines against ASF.
00:01:06
Speaker
This is really big news, of course, for control of the virus and also big news for the work and research that Vietnam has been doing on these two vaccines.
00:01:20
Speaker
There's really two primary vaccines that they, of course, have been working on and that were recently approved.
Vaccine Characteristics and Approval
00:01:28
Speaker
They're both modified live virus vaccines and they both have gene deletions, meaning from the wild type virus from the ASF Georgia strain, these two vaccine candidates have different genes that have been deleted from the wild type virus to make them attenuated, meaning that they do not cause clinical disease in pigs and can provide protection
00:01:56
Speaker
against the wild type virus when exposed.
00:01:59
Speaker
So this is very exciting news for, of course, swine production worldwide.
00:02:06
Speaker
And in particular, these two companies that are creating the vaccines.
Production and Export Plans
00:02:11
Speaker
How will the vaccines be produced and distributed in Vietnam?
00:02:14
Speaker
Yes, right now, the Vietnam's agriculture ministry has requested that these two vaccine companies, so it's AVAC and Nevetco, these two companies that are producing these vaccines,
00:02:25
Speaker
to start devising production plans for both domestic sales and potential export.
00:02:31
Speaker
So they're looking, of course, at the population domestically in Vietnam, approximately 28.6 million pigs in Vietnam.
00:02:41
Speaker
So looking, of course, at that market and then also looking at potential export to other countries that are currently struggling with African swine fever virus outbreaks.
00:02:53
Speaker
which may be interested in implementing either a vaccine control strategy or, of course, just having the vaccine available in their toolbox for ASF strategies.
00:03:06
Speaker
Any idea what the timeline would be for production and distribution?
Field Evaluations and Demand
00:03:10
Speaker
Well, they have already had quite a bit of
00:03:13
Speaker
field evaluation of these two vaccines.
00:03:17
Speaker
So the Novetco vaccine has been distributed and doses have been administered about 47,000 doses to pigs for that Novetco vaccine and about 605,000 doses of the AVAC vaccine have been administered.
00:03:37
Speaker
That's really gone on over the last year in these field evaluation trials to understand the efficacy and the safety and the effectiveness of these vaccines up to now, of course, and now that they've been commercially approved.
00:03:53
Speaker
And so they have that production capacity, of course, with these large doses that have already been administered in the field evaluation.
00:04:03
Speaker
And of course, we'll have to see how that ramps up now that the commercial use has been approved.
00:04:11
Speaker
And of course, they're considering more export potential.
00:04:14
Speaker
Do you think demand for these vaccines in Vietnam will be high?
00:04:18
Speaker
And if so, how will the producers keep up with demand?
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah, we've seen that Vietnam has continued to struggle with introduction of ASF outbreaks into new areas or new farms in the country.
00:04:32
Speaker
Certainly, I think farmers and producers will be looking at the commercial availability of these vaccines as an important tool for their ASF control strategies.
00:04:46
Speaker
And it, of course, needs to be coupled with the biosecurity practices that these farms are already considering, such as inputs, such as feed and supplies and personnel biosecurity and water biosecurity and everything that the Vietnam producers are considering for their ASF control strategies.
00:05:10
Speaker
But absolutely, I think they will be looking at the availability of these vaccines as another tool to help control ASF in their herds, to hopefully help with potential ASF eradication regionally or in the country.
00:05:30
Speaker
And we see that the reports are stating that each vaccine will be approximately $1.80 per dose.
00:05:38
Speaker
These doses will be available for purchase by farmers and producers and, of course, will be evaluated in coordination with their veterinarian for particular use in the appropriate age group.
00:05:54
Speaker
You've mentioned exports.
00:05:56
Speaker
Will they be distributed anywhere
International Interest in ASF Vaccines
00:05:58
Speaker
else?
00:05:58
Speaker
We've reported that the Philippines is preparing to receive and distribute the vaccines, but there are concerns about that country's ability to do so.
00:06:06
Speaker
Yes, we've certainly seen reports of the two ASF vaccines in Vietnam with regards to plans for export to certain countries.
00:06:18
Speaker
We've seen that the Philippines has reported their interest and plans to import the AVAC vaccine.
00:06:25
Speaker
And we've also seen reports from the Dominican Republic for plans and use of the Novetco vaccine in a small scale trial study.
00:06:38
Speaker
And so yet to be determined as far as how broadly or how widely these vaccines will be utilized after production ramps up in Vietnam.
00:06:52
Speaker
And of course, there are additional ASF vaccine candidates that continue to be investigated and evaluated for their potential use.
00:07:06
Speaker
But certainly these two vaccines, AVAC and Nevetco in Vietnam,
00:07:12
Speaker
as the first commercially available vaccines certainly are ahead of the market as far as availability and potential for export.
00:07:24
Speaker
The two vaccines have different guidelines for the age at which they should be administered.
00:07:28
Speaker
Do you have any insight as to how this will be monitored to ensure the vaccines are being given safely and correctly?
Challenges in Vaccine Deployment
00:07:34
Speaker
Yes, certainly it's important that we consider that the AVAC and the Nevetco vaccines have been evaluated and are recommended in different age groups.
00:07:45
Speaker
The AVAC vaccine, for instance, is recommended for administration of pigs that are four weeks of age or older.
00:07:53
Speaker
And the Nevetco vaccine has been recommended for administration of pigs eight to 10 weeks of age.
00:08:02
Speaker
There's also a difference in the duration of immunity between each vaccine.
00:08:07
Speaker
So the AVAC vaccine has shown that the duration of immunity is approximately four months, whereas the Novetco vaccine has shown a six-month duration of immunity.
00:08:19
Speaker
And those have been measured by antibodies produced by the ASF vaccine as measured by ELISA.
00:08:26
Speaker
And so when you think about these two vaccines and the differences in recommended age of administration, and of course the trials that have confirmed safety and efficacy in those pig groups, it will be really important as individuals use these vaccines to be in coordination with veterinarians and producers to ensure that the appropriate age pig receives the vaccine
00:08:55
Speaker
to again help in those ASF control strategies.
00:08:58
Speaker
What are some other challenges concerning these vaccines?
00:09:01
Speaker
There are a few continued challenges with these vaccines, one of which is that we don't have a lot of information about the safety and efficacy in age groups or in breeding animals outside of those recommended administration groups.
00:09:19
Speaker
And that continues to be a question that will be investigated and confirmed, of course, to understand the potential use in other age groups or in breeding animals.
00:09:31
Speaker
A second challenge is that there continues to be a lack of a DIVA test for antibodies, meaning that if you took a blood sample from a pig and detected ASF antibodies,
00:09:46
Speaker
you would not be able to distinguish those antibodies between animals that were vaccinated and animals that were naturally infected.
00:09:57
Speaker
And that becomes really important as far as a control and strategy and a tool when you're thinking about eradication or elimination of disease and the use of vaccine to control disease, making sure you can differentiate again from infected
00:10:15
Speaker
and vaccinated animals.
00:10:17
Speaker
The other challenge that's really been highlighted in use of these vaccines is that we currently do not have an effective molecular surveillance system to monitor the circulation of both wild type and vaccine variants in the pig population.
00:10:36
Speaker
That will be really important to understand the virus's dynamics
00:10:41
Speaker
and the vaccine efficacy with regards to wide scale use of the vaccine and continued outbreaks of the wild type virus or introduction into those vaccinated populations.
00:10:54
Speaker
The last challenge that we've highlighted is thinking about the need to establish a sustainable plan for documenting and assessing the vaccine's effectiveness in these real world scenarios.
00:11:07
Speaker
We know that the more the vaccine is used in Vietnam and in other countries, the more populations are going to be exposed to the vaccines that, for instance, have co-infections of other pathogens.
00:11:22
Speaker
And certainly that may affect the vaccine's ability to protect against wild type ASF.
00:11:29
Speaker
And the more information we can gather during the vaccine use, the more, of course, we will be able to learn about
00:11:37
Speaker
the potential strategies with regards to vaccination and how that can be used in best case scenarios to really reduce the ASF risk and burden around the world.
Megan's New Role at SHIC
00:11:48
Speaker
Lastly, I don't want to let you go without congratulating you on your upcoming promotion.
00:11:53
Speaker
You'll be taking on the role of executive director at the Swine Health Information Center on January 1st after Paul Sundberg retires at the end of this year.
00:12:01
Speaker
How are you feeling about this new chapter and what are you looking forward to?
00:12:04
Speaker
Well, thank you for mentioning the promotion.
00:12:07
Speaker
Yes, I'm thrilled to take on leadership in the Swine Health Information Center.
00:12:16
Speaker
And of course, Paul Sundberg has done a fantastic job in leading this organization really since its inception in 2015.
00:12:27
Speaker
And I look forward to continuing to work
00:12:30
Speaker
with producers and veterinarians and researchers to really identify new tools and novel control strategies for emerging diseases in the swine industry.
00:12:44
Speaker
SHIC is absolutely laser focused on emerging diseases and preparedness and prevention and response planning.
00:12:54
Speaker
And I really look forward to continuing to work towards SHIC's mission
00:12:59
Speaker
And of course, the other aspect of this is that we are currently looking for a new associate director to join our team at the Swine Health Information Center.
00:13:10
Speaker
And of course, if any of your listeners are interested in that, we have more information on our website.
00:13:16
Speaker
Okay, great.
00:13:16
Speaker
And we're looking forward to seeing what happens in the future at SHIC as well.
00:13:21
Speaker
Megan, thank you so much for joining me again and talking this all through.
00:13:24
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me.
00:13:26
Speaker
And thank you to the audience for listening.
00:13:28
Speaker
I'm Anne Roos for Feed Strategy.