For more than a year, COVID-19 vaccines have dominated headlines, television coverage and stirred-up heated debates and protests over vaccination mandates. But flying under the radar has been a significant development in livestock health - and for the global meat protein supply. On September 30, USDA's Agriculture Research Service (ARS) announced that one of its African Swine Fever vaccine candidates has proven to be successful in blocking the spread of the disease.

ASF is one of the most devastating livestock diseases. An outbreak in Asia in 2019 (from which Chinese and other Asian pork producers are just starting to recover) caused an estimated $130 billion in total costs - including culling, animal replacement purchases and lost revenue.

Newly published USDA research, highlighted in the journal Transboundary and Emerging Diseases (September 28, 2021) shows that ARS scientists have developed a vaccine candidate with the ability to be commercially produced while still maintaining its efficacy against ASF virus strains. The tests were conducted in European and Asian breeds of swine. The findings also show that a commercial partner can replicate experimental level results and prevent the spread of the virus.

"We are excited that our team's research has resulted in promising vaccine results that are able to be repeated on a commercial level, in different pig breeds, and by using a recent ASFV isolate," said ARS researcher Douglas Gladue. "This signals that the live attenuated vaccine candidate could play an important role in controlling the ongoing outbreak threatening the global pork supply."

A commercial vaccine for ASF will be an important part of controlling the disease in outbreak areas. Researchers will continue to determine the safety and efficacy of the vaccine under commercial production conditions and are closely working with their commercial partner in Vietnam. 

"This is a major step for science and agriculture," said ARS researcher Manuel Borca. "We are working carefully to see our vaccine candidate commercialized through the joint efforts of the U.S. government, and our commercial partner, the NAVETCO National Veterinary Joint Stock Company."

To date, ARS has successfully engineered and patented five ASF experimental vaccines and has fully executed seven licenses with pharmaceutical companies to develop these vaccines.

USDA Ups Ante

Coincidently on September 29, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack revealed a funding package of agricultural investments totaling $3 billion, of which $500 million will go toward preventing the spread of African Swine Fever. The initiative will include robust expansion and coordination of monitoring, surveillance, prevention, quarantine and eradication activities by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. "ASF outbreaks have proven devastating in other parts of the world due to lost production and trade. It is critical for all of us to work together to stop the spread of the disease," USDA said.

Source: USDA Agricultural Research Service, September 28, 29, 2021; Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, September 28, 2021; Feed Strategy, September 30, 2021.