The Department of Agriculture (DA) said approvals for animal vaccines will now be faster under the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).

This comes as the DA issued Department Circular (DC) No. 33, which provides the transitory guidelines for the licensing of establishments, license to operate (LTO), and certification of product veterinary registration from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the BAI.
 
Veterinary drugs, products, biologics, and other covered animal health products shall be subject to appropriate regulatory control by BAI prior to manufacture, importation, distribution, or sale in the Philippines.
 
In a press briefing, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said the move will prompt a swifter registration process.  
 
“Yung expertise ng mga beterenaryo sa laboratory nasa BAI, so we can expect na mas mabilis ‘yung (The expertise of veterinarians in the laboratory is in BAI, so we can expect that there will be swifter) processing within the animal industry,” he said.
 
De Mesa said the timing is crucial with the expected commercialization of the AVAC live vaccines against African swine fever (ASF).
 
“Ito ‘yung critical, ngayong panahon kasi kailangan ng pagpapabakuna dahil ito ‘yung panahon na maraming sakit yung mga baboy natin (This is now critical at this time because we need vaccinations, because this is the season wherein hogs face diseases),” he said.
 
Under BAI, de Mesa said the commercial approval of AVAC live vaccines from Vietnam may be released early in the third quarter of this year, with an approval for another vaccine to follow soon.
 
The DA, however, has yet to disclose the other vaccine and its origin.
 
De Mesa, meanwhile, highlighted the continuous management of ASF, citing a drop in cases. 
 
“There was almost a 70 percent reduction ng cases. So, patunay na bumababa ang kaso ng ASF sa atin (that’s proof that ASF cases are dropping),” he said, noting about 350 cases this year, which is lower compared to 2025.
 
Cases also dropped to 72 during the second quarter from 278 cases in the first quarter.
 
As of June 26, the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) logged 15 barangays with active ASF cases.IMT