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The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) encourages innovation in vaccine development; however, it remains imperative that the vaccines used in the field are of high-quality and have been proven safe and effective. Using poor quality or non-compliant vaccines could threaten African swine fever (ASF) control measures as they may not provide protection against the disease. In fact, ineffective vaccines could result in the spread of the disease or in vaccine viruses recombining with the circulating ASF virus, creating new strains that could potentially spread more easily and escape detection.
This year, at WOAH’s 92nd General Session, an ASF vaccine standard was adopted to demonstrate our Members’ commitment to tackling the disease and to use safe, compliant vaccines. This standard aims to provide Members and manufacturers with minimum standards for safe and effective vaccines. It highlights the need for vaccines to be effective in reducing the severity of the disease, limiting transmission of the virus and providing immunity to the animal, therefore reducing production losses due to ASF. They must be proven safe before use, meaning they do not cause lasting or severe clinical signs, harm the environment or contain wild ASF viruses or other harmful agents. Finally, they must match the circulating ASF genotype in the region of vaccination to ensure effectiveness and limit the risk of two different strains combining to form a new, harder to manage strain.
June 10, 2025/ World Organisation for Animal Health.
https://www.woah.org
