Vietnam develops an ASF vaccine: What is the context?

Source: Vincent ter Beek, Pig Progress, 22 January 2021, photo credit: School of Public Health, University of Michigan

Over the last few months, various Vietnamese media have reported that the country is working on a vaccine against African Swine Fever (ASF). When digging deeper to understand the context, it is clear that research is going on at many places – but most is happening behind the scenes.

First things first: what do various media in Vietnam report? The Vietnam Times for instance reported mid-January that the Vietnamese Department of Animal Health (DAH) and the Navetco National Veterinary Joint Stock Company conducted an ASF vaccine test on production pigs.

The vaccine trial was carried out on 25 pigs according to the news article and the experimental results would have been positive. (Another news source, the Vietnam Investment Review, brought the news as well and speaks of 72 pigs.) Allegedly, the DAH and Navetco would be preparing a scientific report about the finding. The news items referred to the USA being the origin of the prototype.
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