Vietnam to produce foot-and-mouth disease vaccines next year. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Next year, Vietnam expects toproduce and provide a sufficient supply of vaccines against foot-and-mouthdisease, an infectious and sometime fatal viral disease that affectscloven-hoofed animals, including cattle and pigs, as heard at a conference inHanoi on December 18.
The conference was held by the Department of AnimalHealth under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to review itsperformance in 2017 and outline tasks for 2018.
After several stages of studies based on scientific andtechnical recommendations by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE),the Regional Animal Health Office No.6 has selected a strain of the foot-and-mouthvirus type O, ME-SA/PanAsia linage, to develop the vaccines, said Bach Duc Luu,a representative from the office.
The office has transferred the virus to three domesticvaccine manufacturers for mass production. The first batch of made-in-Vietnamfoot-and-mouth disease vaccines is expected to be produced in the secondquarter of 2018, he noted.
It is the first joint effort made by the animal healthsector and businesses to produce the vaccines for domestic use, reducing thecountry’s reliance on imports, he added.
Each year, Vietnam has to spend 20-30 million USD toimport about 20-30 million doses vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease whichhas caused severe damage for local livestock farming.-VNA
VNA
