INNOVATIVE PET VACCINES IN VETERINARY MEDICINE: GLOBAL TRENDS AND IMPLEMENTATION BARRIERS

Abstract

Vaccination remains an integral aspect of companion animal health; however, the field is currently experiencing a revolution in vaccine technology. The study objective was to assess the worldwide trends in uptake, safety, and challenges of implementing new vaccines in veterinary practice and to put these findings into perspective with general bibliometric developments. Cross-sectional data from 320 veterinary clinics in eight world regions were analyzed at University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, which accounted for the adoption of (m)RNA, viral-vector, intranasal, thermostable, DIVA, and autogenous vaccines, as well as proxy measures to infrastructure quality, vaccine hesitancy, and coverage. Moreover, the bibliometrics of 2015–2020 were scrutinized to determine the research outputs of core innovation types. The findings also showed a substantial variation in adoption and deployment between income groups. While high-income countries are more likely to use platforms that are based on mRNA and viral vectors, lower-middle-income regions would prefer thermostable formulations due to cold-chain limitations. The mean adverse event following immunization (AEFI) rate was 2.4 per 1000 doses, and multivariate regression analysis identified cold chain quality as the most influential risk in driving vaccine safety, with novelty platforms not independently increasing safety concerns. Vaccine refusal and stock-out were identified as key barriers to coverage, particularly in lower-resource settings where serology services also tended to be less available. A bibliometric study identified a considerable reduction in publications on mRNA vaccines from 2020, and by contrast, the continuously growing publication trends associated with viral vectors, thermostable, and intranasal vaccines. These findings emphasize that the successful introduction of novel vaccines into companion animal practice, therefore, not only depends on technological development but also requires improved infrastructure, diversified supply chains, and solutions for client hesitancy to enable safe and fair vaccine adoption globally.