Introduction of an update system for vaccine strains of veterinary influenza vaccines in Japan

Protective efficacy of stockpiled vaccine against H5N8 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus isolated from a chicken in Kumamoto prefecture, Japan, in 2014

“…National Veterinary Assay Laboratory (NVAL), MAFF established a vaccine strain selection committee for veterinary influenza vaccines (the selection committee) [ 4 ]. The main agenda involves determining whether AI and equine influenza vaccine strains that are currently in use need to be updated and selecting the most appropriate vaccine strains.…”

Update of inactivated equine influenza vaccine strain in Japan

“…As a result, the majority of current EI vaccines worldwide contain outdated strains [1, 2]. To rapidly update vaccine strains for veterinary influenza vaccine, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan (MAFF) established an influenza vaccine selection system [5]. In this system, MAFF establishes the vaccine strains and distributes them to market authorization holders (MAHs).…”

“…This system reduces the period of time required from development to marketing to approximately 1 year. To determine whether influenza vaccine strains should be updated and to select the most appropriate vaccine strains, the National Veterinary Assay Laboratory of the MAFF established a vaccine strains selection committee for veterinary influenza (selection committee), which consists of experts of influenza and biological products [5]. …”

“…Although the EI vaccine does not include Fc2, one vaccine strain, La Plata/93, shares similar antigenic characteristics with A/equine/Richmond/1/2007 (H3N8) (Richmond/07, Fc2) [17]. Therefore, the selection committee meeting held in 2011 and 2012 concluded that the current vaccine strains need not be updated at those times [5]. However, in the selection committee meeting held in 2013, it was reported that the antigenic characteristics of the current major prevalent Fc2 viruses isolated in the U.K. and Ireland had recently changed [18].…”

“…The selection committee concluded that the current Japanese EI vaccine is still effective against Fc2 viruses and does not have to be updated rapidly [4]. However, the selection committee also suggested that considering the recent OIE ESP recommendation and that some countries, such as Australia, require that exporting countries should vaccinate horses with the most up-to-date EI vaccine prior to shipment (http://www.jlta.or.jp/requirements/horse/h_e_australia.pdf), Fc2 virus should be prepared for the next updated vaccine [5]. …”