Do some vaccines cause ’Mad Cow Disease’?
Variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (vCJD) is considered to be the human equivalent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as ’mad cow disease’). There is no evidence that any case of vCJD has resulted from the administration of any vaccine product, despite millions of doses of vaccine being administered worldwide. Concerns about the risk of transmission of this disease arose because the production of some vaccines requires bovine derivatives such as fetal bovine serum, and there is thus a theoretical risk of transmitting BSE via some vaccines. In Australia, the Therapeutic Goods Administration has confirmed that the vaccines available in this country contain bovine materials preferentially sourced from BSE-free areas, and that they undergo appropriate purification treatment.
