Developing WOAH guidelines for African Swine Fever (ASF) vaccines: field evaluation and post-vaccination monitoring

A Collaborative Project Led by The Pirbright Institute and CityUHK OHRP

For many years, the control of ASF has been limited by the lack of an effective vaccine. While promising modified live virus vaccine candidates are now undergoing field testing or approval in several countries, and many are in development, there is a lack of a standardized framework for evaluating these vaccines in real-world settings.

To address this need, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has commissioned the development of Guidelines for ASF Vaccines: Field Evaluation and Post-Vaccination Monitoring. This project is a collaboration between The Pirbright Institute (Dr. Georgina Limon-Vega and Dr. Bryony Armson) and City University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Applied One Health Research and Policy Advice (OHRP) (Dirk Pfeiffer, Sergio Guerrero-Sanchez, Angus Lam, Ladan Jahangiri, and Liesbeth Frias).

Between July 22-24, 2025, the team presented their draft guidelines to a dedicated WOAH Ad Hoc group at WOAH HQ in Paris. The guidelines were recognised as being in strong foundational form. The team will now incorporate recommendations from the Ad Hoc group to refine the guidelines for global applicability and practical implementation.

Developing WOAH guidelines