Challenges
- Vaccines may have limited efficacy, limited duration of immunity, and potentially severe side effects [1].
- Field strains of pathogens evolve quickly and may not be matched by the vaccine strain, resulting in limited efficacy [1].
- Some vaccines are not effective on the field strains present in Canadian herds.
- There is limited commercial interest in developing vaccines for animal diseases.
- Vaccines must be cost-effective and user-friendly to administer.
- Some vaccines are not available in Canada. On a world scale, the Canadian market is relatively small and there are relatively large regulatory approval costs associated with distributing products to Canada.
- Significant research and development is needed to develop new vaccines, which results in large investments of time and money.
Further Reading
References
[1] K. Hoelzer et al., ‘Vaccines as alternatives to antibiotics for food producing animals. Part 1: challenges and needs’, Vet. Res., vol. 49, no. 1, p. 64, Jul. 2018, doi: 10.1186/s13567-018-0560-8.
