Prescription platform and autogenous vaccines – what are they and what is the difference?

Abstract

Autogenous vaccines – farm- and ranch-specific – have been used for decades to prevent and control diseases where com­mercial vaccines have not been effective. Since the 1970s, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB) has regulated the production of autogenous vaccines that are produced for interstate and intrastate use. In 2018, CVB extended this “autogenous” production to platform technology which allows an opportunity for a wider number of agents to have “prescription” vaccines developed. These “pre­scription” platform (RxP) vaccines can express the important immunizing antigens rather than the whole organism in tradi­tional inactivated autogenous vaccines There is a difference in the specificity and safety of autogenous and RxP vaccines, but both need to be administered with an adjuvant. They each have their advantages and disadvantages. These vaccines are tested for safety and purity, but there is no guarantee of efficacy.