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The European Union Vaccine Bank (EUVB) is an essential component of the contingency plans for the control of FMD within the European Community. It was first mooted in 1985 in EC Directive 85/511/EC, and confirmed in Directive 90/423/EC. The arrangements for the EUVB were described in a further Directive 91/966.
The Bank currently consists of 5 million doses of each of six FMD strains stored as concentrated, inactivated antigen over liquid nitrogen.
The strains currently (1998) in the Bank are:
O1 Manisa O1 BFS
C Noville Asia1 Shamir
A22 Iraq A24 Cruzeiro
The choice of strains is continually reviewed to ensure their relevance to current threats to the EU.
At present each antigen is split between two sites to minimise the risk of complete loss due to failure of storage conditions. A contract exists with a commercial manufacturer whereby the antigen will be sent to them for reformulation. The requirement is for the production of 2.5 million doses within 10 days.
At the time of writing (June 1998) the arrangements for the EUVB are under review and the following proposals are being considered.
• Supply of future batches will be by open tender and it is envisaged that the manufacturer of the antigen will also be responsible for storage and reformulation.
• External quality control of antigens will be overseen by the Commission through a contract tendered to an FMD laboratory in a Member State.
• Emergency vaccines will in future have to be licensed for use within the EU. It is envisaged that vaccine formulations will be licensed rather than specific antigens.
• Vaccine could be made available to third countries whose FMD status
is of relevance to the EU.
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