The activities in this component will engage with, and be relevant to, each of the 39 Member Nations. EuFMD will provide regular guidance to contingency planners at national and European (EU and GF-TADs) scale on all aspects of vaccine availability and performance for use in emergency vaccination programmes, for the priority FAST diseases. This activity will be linked closely to the work done under component 7 of Pillar I to update and regularly use the PRAGMATIST to provide information of the FMD risks and the relative value of the antigens available for use in European emergency reserves. In order to generate some of this information, to improve understanding of issues and to identify pathways or actions to improve the availability of vaccines suitable for use by Member Nations in disease emergencies, a Public and Private Sector Platform (PPSP) is established. In close collaboration with components 2 and 4 of Pillar I, EuFMD will scope the state of preparedness for emergency vaccination in the plans of the Member Nations and on the issues that constrain them from inclusion of vaccination in their plans. The issues identified may be discussed by the PPSP to draft recommendations to address these constraints. Moreover, they may lead to the development of training activities for MN organized under components 1 and/or 4.

New systems established

• A pre-qualified supplier system for the immediate procurement of vaccines meeting pre-agreed quality criteria for use in Member Nations. (PQv)

• An emergency procurement and supply mechanism for FMD vaccines, operating through FAO procurement procedures through application of the pre-qualification system with or without an assurance contracting modality: Assured emergency Supply OPtions (AESOP).

The new emergency procurement and supply system for FMD vaccines that complements the EU vaccine bank, will be one of the new mechanism of emergency response established in this new phase of the programme. Another new emergency response mechanism will be the diagnostic bank established under component 4 of Pillar I. The diagnostic bank will be established initially for South-Eastern Europe. 

Call for Experts for Pre-Qualification (PQv) evaluation of FMD vaccines

The European Commission for the control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD) is launching a call for independent scientific and technical experts (ISTEs) to undertake the evaluation of applications from manufactures of FMD vaccines for Pre-Qualification (PQv) to assure compliance with the minimum standards of the OIE Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines 2021, Chapter 3.1.8, Foot and Mouth Disease (Infection with Foot and Mouth Disease Virus).

Experts should have experience in the development, manufacture, testing and regulation of FMD or other veterinary vaccines. Specific details of the expertise being sought are listed under the specifications section of the call. EuFMD will aim to build a pool of appropriate experts competent in the evaluation of FMD applications initially with a view to extend the competence to other FAST vaccines following implementation of the PQv scheme for FMD. Experts can provide expertise in one or more of the specifications listed below:

1. Manufacturing Quality
2. Safety
3. Efficacy, post-vaccine monitoring and vaccine matching

Deadline for submission of proposals: 30 June 2022, at 5:00 pm CEST.

Download here the invitation to submit a proposal. For the Word version of the document and more information, please contact [email protected].