to produce vaccines next year. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Next year, Vietnam expects to
produce and provide a sufficient against foot-and-mouth
disease, an infectious and sometime fatal viral disease that affects
cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle and pigs, as heard at a conference in
Hanoi on December 18.
The conference was held by the Department of Animal
Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to review its
performance in 2017 and outline tasks for 2018.
After several stages of studies based on scientific and
technical recommendations by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE),
the Regional Animal Health Office No.6 has selected a strain of the foot-and-mouth
virus 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 domestic
vaccine manufacturers for mass production. The first batch of made-in-Vietnam
is expected to be produced in the second
quarter of 2018, he noted.
It is the first joint effort made by the animal health
sector and businesses to produce the vaccines for domestic use, reducing the
country’s reliance on imports, he added.
Each year, Vietnam has to spend 20-30 million USD to
import about 20-30 million doses vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease which
has caused severe damage for local livestock farming.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
