United States of America - The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) convened a meeting in July 2000 of the Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee and the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee to discuss the status of vaccines which have been manufactured with bovinederived materials. No evidence exists that cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) are related to the use of vaccines, and no cases of vCJD have been reported in the United States.

The Committees concluded that the risk of vCJD posed by vaccines in the United States was theoretical and remote. This conclusion was based on the inherent low risk of the bovine materials involved and/or the dilutions of materials during manufacture. The Committees concluded that the benefits of vaccination outweigh any remote risk of vCJD.

The Food and Drug Administration has requested manufacturers to replace bovine-derived materials obtained from countries where bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has been reported with materials from BSE-free countries. The Public Health Service recommends that all persons continue to be vaccinated according to current schedules.

Reference: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 49(50): 1137–1138 (2000). http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr