Animal testing for veterinary vaccine quality control falls to lowest level in a decade

Figures published by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate show that animal use in the quality-control testing of veterinary vaccines has fallen to its lowest level in over a decade. The average number of animals needed to release a single vaccine batch dropped by 41%, from 29 in 2013 to 17 in 2024, while the proportion of vaccine batches requiring any animal testing at all fell from 74% to 34% over the same period.

The improvement reflects both regulatory change and better science. A routine safety test that involved dosing the target species purely to check a batch was safe was withdrawn in 2013, and subsequent refinements mean horses, cats, dogs, turkeys and pigeons are no longer needed for the routine quality-control testing of the vaccines used on them, with a small number of exceptions, such as certain clostridial and fish vaccines, where alternatives are still being developed. Defra minister Baroness Hayman said the progress shows that "better science means we can reduce animal testing, while still giving farmers, vets and pet owners the vaccines they rely on," and VMD chief executive Abi Seager called it "twelve years of sustained, measurable progress."

For dog and horse owners and breeders, the trend means the vaccines in routine use are reaching the market with less reliance on animal testing at the batch-release stage, without any loosening of the safety checks applied before a batch can be sold. The VMD has indicated that replacing remaining animal-based tests, where scientifically possible, continues to be part of its ongoing work under the UK's wider strategy for reducing animal use in regulatory science.