At a meeting of the EMAV members in Bologna, the participants summarized some of the association's core activities, such as close and ongoing consultations with key stakeholders, particularly with the European Commission, regarding continuously changing processes and timelines for the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2019/6 for autogenous vaccines and for the publication of the implementing act/GMP for autogenous vaccines. But the participants also discussed work on a variety of EMAV projects, such as the rationale for the EMAV GMP proposal, the implementation of the EMAV ROADMAP decided last year and the development of definitions regarding epidemiological terms.
In accordance with the EMAV strategy principles for 2025–2028, a working group of EMAV Board directors has supplemented the long-term strategic goals with concrete tactical measures for the year 2026/2027. An “EMAV Roadmap Tactical Action Plan” outlines short-term tactical objectives that have been approved by the General Assembly in April. These are aligned with the overarching EMAV goals, which are to ensure the safe, compliant and effective use of autogenous vaccines throughout Europe, as emphasized by the project group leader Maarten de Gussem.
The EMAV members discussed the idea of “defining and standardizing key terms of epidemiology” through the EMAV Practice Advisory Group in order to create a clear and harmonized framework for the definition of epidemiological units and epidemiological links in swine and poultry pathogens. Standardization could improve decision-making, the comparability of cases and consistency in communication between teams and species, but it requires a thorough evaluation of the interests of all involved groups in advance, particularly the veterinarians in the field responsible for the application of vaccines, emphasized Managing Director Gerfried Zeller.