Prescription Vaccines Offer Rapid Response Solutions to Swine Industry
ANALYSIS - New USDA regulations will allow producers access to more herd-specific or prescription vaccines, so a farmer can customize their vaccine portfolio to their herd that can be validated by USDA, said Joel Harris, Head of Sales & Marketing at Harrisvaccines.
18 June 2015
2 minute read
By: Joel Harris spoke to ThePigSite's Sarah Mikesell at World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, USA in early June.
Harris said their herd-specific vaccines go through similar steps, starting with a veterinary herd check. An oral fluid or tissue sample is collected from the infected animal and sent to a diagnostic lab, where the viral strain’s gene sequence (GOI – gene of interest) is identified and sent electronically to Harrisvaccines. Because this electronic gene sequence identifies the virus strain specific to a particular farm, no live virus ever enters the Harrisvacccines production facilities, which maximizes safety and biosecurity.
After receiving the gene sequence, Harrisvaccines synthesizes the gene and inserts it synthetically into their RNA production platform. In a matter of weeks, RNA particles can be produced and formulated into doses for use as a herd-specific vaccine.
Harris said swine producers can benefit from prescription vaccines that are custom designed to impact the specific viruses and diseases on their farm.
"It gives them a lot more power to improve their bottom line," he said.
