The VACDIVA project receives €10 million to study a vaccine against ASF

The VACDIVA project, coordinated by Prof. José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaíno, was submitted to the “H2020-SFS-2019-1, Subject: A vaccine against African swine fever” call, and it has been selected by the European Commission to receive funds amounting €10 million.

The project counts on the participation of global reference laboratories for ASF (WOAH/OIE and FAO), the EU reference laboratory (EURL), national reference laboratories in the EU (of the 10 countries currently affected by ASF), ASF research centres and companies that produce vaccines and ASF diagnostic kits.

The involvement of Russian, Chinese and African laboratories will provide a very useful support for the project. Also, the active participation of pig producers, agricultural associations, hunters' associations and international agencies will expand the impact of the communication, spreading and training activities of the project.

The goal of VACDIVA is to solve the ASF problem in Europe and in the affected countries through innovation actions on previously established vaccine candidates.

VACDIVA wants, specifically, to assess and provide:

• Three safe and effective vaccine candidates against ASF for wild boars and domestic pigs that can be administered under field conditions.
• DIVA diagnostic tests validated against the vaccine candidates.
• Effective and inexpensive surveillance and control strategies through vaccination.