Impact of Mixed Equine Influenza Vaccination on Correlate of Protection in Horses

To evaluate the humoral immune response to mixed Equine Influenza vaccination, a common practice in the field, an experimental study was carried out on 42 unvaccinated thoroughbred weanling foals divided into six groups of seven. Three groups were vaccinated using a non-mixed protocol (Equilis(®) Prequenza-Te, Proteqflu-Te(®) or Calvenza-03(®)) and three other groups were vaccinated using a mix of the three vaccines mentioned previously. Each weanling underwent a primary EI vaccination schedule composed of two primary immunisations (V1 and V2) four weeks apart followed by a third boost immunisation (V3) six months later. Antibody responses were monitored until one-year post-V3 by single radial haemolysis (SRH). The results showed similar antibody responses for all groups using mixed EI vaccination and the group exclusively vaccinated with Equilis(®) Prequenza-TE, which were significantly higher than the other two groups vaccinated with Proteqflu-TE(®) and Calvenza-03(®). All weanlings (100%) failed to seroconvert after V1 and 21% (9/42) still had low or no SRH antibody titres two weeks post-V2. All weanlings had seroconverted and exceeded the clinical protection threshold one month after V3. The poor response to vaccination was primarily observed in groups exclusively vaccinated with Proteqflu-Te(®) and Calvenza-03(®). A large window of susceptibility (3–4.5-month duration) usually called immunity gap was observed after V2 and prior to V3 for all groups. The SRH antibody level was maintained above the clinical protection threshold for three months post-V3 for the groups exclusively vaccinated with Proteqflu-Te(®) and Calvenza-03(®), and six months to one year for groups using mixed EI vaccination or exclusively vaccinated with Equilis(®) Prequenza-Te. This study demonstrates for the first time that the mix of EI vaccines during the primary vaccination schedule has no detrimental impact on the correlate of protection against EIV infection.