Polio vaccines quality control

The health status of animals from which starting materials are derived and of those used for quality control and safety testing should be monitored and recorded. Staff employed in animal quarters must be provided with special clothing, changing facilities and showers. Where monkeys are used for the production or quality control of biological products, special consideration is required, as laid down in the revised Requirements for Biological Substances No. 7 (Requirements for Polio-myelitis Vaccine (Oral))(5). 

Animals are used for the manufacture of a number of biological products for example polio vaccine (monkeys), snake antivenoms (horses and goats), rabies vaccine (rabbits, mice and hamsters) and serum gonadotropin (horses). In addition, animals may also be used in the quality control of most sera and vaccines, e.g., pertussis vaccine (mice), pyrogenicity (rabbits), BCG vaccine (guinea-pigs). 

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