An antigen panel to assess the regional relevance of foot and mouth disease vaccines

Despite widespread use of inactivated vaccines to control foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), there is no systematic approach to demonstrate the regional relevance of these products against the specific serotypes and strains that circulate in endemic countries in Africa and Asia. Failure to adopt independent testing of FMD vaccines has contributed to poor trust in their quality and a lack of investment in vaccination programmes. Therefore, a reference antigen panel representing four serotypes, tailored for East Africa, has been established and used to measure FMDV-specific antibody responses in cattle after administration of FMD vaccines commercially available in the region. This revealed inconsistencies and gaps in cross-neutralisation responses that are evident for some vaccines even after giving booster doses. It is concluded that the East Africa reference antigen panel can be used to evaluate FMD vaccine potency and drive up vaccine quality. Further panels could be developed and deployed for other endemic regions.