China’s Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, the top research body on animal diseases in the country, has reportedly developed an African swine fever (ASF) vaccine that has tested positively in laboratory trials, proving to be safe and effective.

The institute created the live vaccine, called HLJ/-18-7GD, from a series of gene-delete viruses using the country’s first strain of ASF as a backbone. If it works, the new vaccine, whose production has been overseen by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, could hugely benefit the pork inudstry which has been struggling against ASF globally since its first outbreak in 2018.

Whilst the Harbin institute has not given an estimate on when the vaccine could be put into production, it said: “The vaccine is currently the most promising one for commercial production and will provide important technical means for the effective prevention and control of African swine fever in China and other related countries.

“HLJ/-18-7GD has been fully evaluated and proven to be safe and effective against ASFV. We therefore expect that this vaccine will play an important role in the control of ASFV.”

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