The Veterinary Vaccine Product Centre, Vientiane is capable of producing about 10 million doses of animal vaccines per year, according to the Director General of the Livestock and Fisheries Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

“The centre produces eight types of vaccines including five types for fowl including New Castle, duck plague, infectious bronchitis, fowl pox and fowl cholera, two types for large animals such as: Haemorrhagic Septicemia and Black leg and one type of swine vaccine, swine fever vaccine,” said Ms. Vilayphone Vorraphim, Director General, Livestock and Fisheries Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The centre also produces vaccine diluents and laboratory animals, including mice, puinea pigs, rabbits, ducks, chickens for vaccine production and testing purposes.

“The centre was built in 1979 with funding from UNDP and support from FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation). Its duty is to produce and provide animal vaccines to local farmers across the country,” said Ms Vilayphone Vorraphim.

Between 1998 and 2008, the centre was provided with equipment and capacity building training on vaccine production and quality control under the Lao-EU Livestock Project and the Lao-EU Farmer Support project. These projects were supported by the European Union.

Since 2009, the centre has been implementing two key projects including Food Chain Safety of the Lao PDR Improvement Project and Agriculture Infrastructure Development Project. These projects are funded with a tied aid loan of three million US dollars from the Hungarian government.

The recent activities of the projects include the upgrading of the centre’s laboratories for vaccine production and quality control, installation of cool rooms for vaccine storage, and procurement of a freeze dryer for viral vaccine production, bacterial vaccine fermenters, sterilization equipment, and a labelling machine, among others, according to Vice Minister Thongphat

Source: Lao News Agency