Presentation: Assessing viral risk in animal derived raw materials used in vaccine manufacturing

Risk management is a vital part of ensuring vaccine safety, but also promoting a positive public perception of vaccines. Assessing viral risk in animal derived raw materials used in vaccine manufacturing is necessary. Tara Tagmyer from Merck & Co joined us at the World Vaccine Congress in Washington 2012 to give us her opinion. She began by detailing the risk associated with the use of animal derived materials in current licensed vaccines, followed by a brief description of the current methods for the adventitious agent risk reduction. Her presentation ended with a discussion into the options for increased adventitious agent risk reduction and the holistic approach for reducing adventitious agents in current licensed vaccines.

The holistic approach aims to supplement current methods with risk analysis and viral surveillance, helping to further reduce the risk of adventitious agents in vaccine products. This approach combines viral testing, viral inactivation, viral surveillance, and viral clearance and risk assessment. (Write a description here of all the benefits of downloading the document. You need to add a few paragraphs for the page to be formatted correctly.)