Merck’s new coccidiosis vaccine approved for US poultry market

Merck Animal Health has obtained regulatory approval from the US Department of Agriculture for Coccivac-D2 — a new-generation version of a coccidiosis vaccine to replace Coccivac-D.

“Coccivac-D2 builds on the field-proven performance and dependability of Coccivac-D, but its spectrum is even more in step with the Eimeria populations found in today’s broiler-breeder and layer operations,” said Charlie Broussard, DVM, director of US poultry technical services.

He explained that Coccivac-D2 has a more focused antigen profile of the six major species of chicken coccidia (E. tenella, E. mivati, E. acervulina, E. maxima, E. brunetti and E. necatrix.) “We eliminated E. hagani and E. praecox, two of the least important pathogenic Eimeria species of the chicken,” Broussard added.

As with all Coccivac vaccines, Coccivac-D2 provides a balanced, controlled dose of live Eimeria oocysts to stimulate the bird’s natural immunity against this costly and highly prevalent disease. Coccivac-D2 is currently available in 5,000-dose and 1,000-dose vials.

The development of Coccivac-D2 is the result of Merck Animal Health’s ongoing commitment to quality control. As part of this process, all master seeds used to produce the vaccinal oocysts in Coccivac-D2 were tested for purity, quality and re-qualified by USDA. This new product will also help streamline production and result in a more efficient manufacturing process for Merck Animal Health coccidiosis vaccines for poultry.

Source: Merck Animal Health