World Veterinary Day on 27 April 2013: 'Vaccination to prevent and protect'

26 April 2013

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) supports World Veterinary Day, taking place on Saturday 27 April 2013.

World Veterinary Day takes place each year on the last Saturday in April. This year, the theme is vaccination.

The discovery of disease prevention through vaccination is one of the greatest scientific achievements. Vaccination of animals helps people to protect their livestock and their companion animals, as well as themselves in case of zoonotic diseases. Through well-organised campaigns, vaccination contributes to the eradication of diseases from certain areas and even from the world.

The EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Veterinary Use (CVMP) is responsible for preparing the Agency's opinions on all questions concerning veterinary medicines, including the initial assessment of veterinary medicines for which a European Union (EU)-wide marketing authorisation is sought. Since its creation, the CVMP has issued 150 positive opinions for marketing authorisations for veterinary medicines, including 68 for vaccines, of which 49 are for food-producing animals and 19 are for companion animals.

The Agency has also devised strategies and policies to promote the development of vaccines, to respond to emerging diseases.

In 2007, the EMA launched a number of initiatives to promote the availability of authorised bluetongue vaccines within the EU in response to the epidemiological situation of bluetongue, the lack of authorised vaccines on the market and the consequent potential negative impact to animal health.

These efforts culminated in the publication of the CVMP Guideline on requirements for an authorisation under exceptional circumstances for vaccines for emergency use against bluetongue and the decision of the EMA's Executive Director in March 2008 to grant fee reductions for inactivated bluetongue vaccine authorisations. These initiatives significantly contributed to the timely availability of high quality, safe and efficacious bluetongue vaccines for sheep and cattle against a wide a range of serotypes.

More recently, a previously unknown virus of the Bunyaviridae family (the Schmallenberg virus) was reported in ruminants in several European counties. In response to this outbreak, the Agency held a workshop on vaccine development against the Schmallenberg virus in April 2012. The goal of this event was to ensure that the appropriate framework would be in place to allow the timely development of safe and efficacious vaccines in the event of a European Commission or Member State decision to vaccinate against the virus.