Farm-Scape is sponsored by Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork Play Audio Farm-Scape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork.

Farm-Scape, Episode 1313

Scientists at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization are confident they can enhance disease protection in livestock by combining various types of vaccines and adopting different methods of delivery.

The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization recently expanded its mandate placing a higher priority on the development of 'platform technologies', technologies that have applications in a variety of different species.

Immunology Program Manager Dr. Philip Griebel says a key focus of this mandate is new needle free methods for administering vaccines.

"Previously we had focused on developing specific vaccines for individual infectious agents and part of our re-focusing is now looking at new technology platforms for delivering vaccines so what we're looking at is taking these vaccines, some of which may be presently available, and changing significantly how we'll deliver these vaccines.

The reason we want to change the delivery of these vaccines is to increase the effectiveness of the vaccine but more importantly we want to address a number of significant issues around the safety of the vaccine which is really related to how they're delivered.

We're focusing on vaccine delivery technologies that will avoid a number of the issues associated with intramuscular injection of vaccine so we're focusing much more on delivery to the skin and to oral delivery of vaccines."

Dr. Griebel says, over the next two to three years, scientists will be looking at combining different forms of vaccines in an effort to develop products that will induce very rapid immunity and very long disease protection.

He says duration of immunity has been a limitation with many of the present vaccines so VIDO will be looking at new vaccine formulations to achieve a much longer duration of immune protection.