Ingelvac CircoFLEX^® is the most successful animal health vaccine of all time. In fact, more than 4 billion pigs have been protected worldwide so far.¹ This success, in part, can be related to the product’s versatility as outlined below: 

• Is efficacious as a one-dose piglet vaccine,
• Is efficacious as a sow vaccine, 
• Is efficacious when both sows and pigs are vaccinated; no maternal immunity interference when used at 3 weeks of age or older, and
• Is efficacious and non-viricidal when combined with Ingelvac^® PRRS MLV (a PRRS vaccine), Ingelvac MycoFLEX^® (a Mycoplasma vaccine), or both.

Efficacy as a one-dose piglet vaccine

In a recent field study where the efficacy of six different vaccines was compared in piglets of a gilt multiplier, the best gain results were obtained with Ingelvac CircoFLEX^®.² Table 1 shows the results that were obtained.

Table 1. Gain results in pigs vaccinated with six different vaccines.

Values with different letters are significantly different (P < 0.05)

Efficacy as a sow vaccine

Ingelvac CircoFLEX^® is licensed to be used in sows as well as in pigs in Europe. In a study conducted in Spain, piglets from a 2,800 sow farm were vaccinated at three weeks of age but had health issues related to PCV2 at about four weeks of age.³ Obviously the vaccine did not have time to mount an immune response, the piglets were challenged too early. Thirty-nine newborn piglets from different parities were blood sampled before they drank colostrum, to see if they were born already infected with PCV2. Depending on the parities, the percentage of piglets positive by PCR was between 33.3 and 70%. The sow herd was vaccinated twice, two months apart, with Ingelvac CircoFLEX^®. Two months after the last vaccination, 39 piglets were sampled again, before the first suckle. All piglets were found to be negative.

Efficacy as a sow and piglet vaccine

A study was conducted in a 2,400 US sow herd.⁴ Seventy-eight sows were vaccinated twice six and three weeks before farrowing with Ingelvac CircoFLEX^®, and 95 were left unvaccinated. Piglets from these sows were either vaccinated at three weeks of age, or not vaccinated. Table 2 shows the results obtained.

Table 2. Results obtained in various combinations of sow and pig vaccination.

Overall, the best results were obtained when both sows and pigs were vaccinated. Vaccinating the dam only did not produce positive results.

Efficacy in combination with Ingelvac^® PRRS MLV and Ingelvac MycoFLEX^®

Ingelvac CircoFLEX^® is approved for use in combination with Ingelvac^® PRRS MLV, Ingelvac MycoFLEX^®, or both. Protection against one, two or three diseases can thus be obtained in a convenient single injection one-shot approach. Safety and efficacy of the combined vaccines have been demonstrated in different studies over the years.^5,6 Furthermore, Ingelvac CircoFLEX^® does not have a significant detrimental effect on the viability of Ingelvac^® PRRS MLV when used in combination with it. In a recent study, the viability of the PRRS fraction in different PRRS-PCV2 combination vaccines was evaluated in vitro over a period of four hours.⁷ The only combination vaccine that did not have a significant negative effect on the viability of the PRRS fraction was the combination of Ingelvac CircoFLEX^® and Ingelvac^® PRRS MLV. One combination vaccine had no viable virus two and four hours post reconstitution, and another one had lost 1.13 log right after mixing.  

Ingelvac CircoFLEX^® is very safe, very efficacious in various situations, and very versatile. This explains why it is the most successful animal health vaccine of all time. 

References

1. Boehringer Ingelheim data on file.
2. Samatiwat K, Young N, Pashavasit T, Maala C, Lecznieski LF. Comparative efficacy evaluation of six PCV2 vaccines in a wean-finish farm with subclinical PCV2 infection. IPVS, 2022;426.
3. Navas J, Figueras-Gourgues S, Rodriguez-Vega, V, Hernandez-Caravaca I. Reducing PCV2 viremia in neonatal pigs through sow mass vaccination in an unstable herd. Boehringer Ingelheim US, Technical Bulletin, 2022.
4. Edler R, Wilt V, Diaz E, Cline G. Efficacy of PCV2 vaccination of pigs, dams, or both on pig performance. AD Leman Swine Conference, 2008; Recent Research Reports,10.
5. Boehringer Ingelheim US. Single pathogen challenge study confirms efficacy of 3FLEX® vaccine mixture. Technical Bulletin, 2014.
6. Philips R, Fano E, Schmaling E, Edler R. A severe PRDC challenge and the effect of a trivalent PRDC vaccine for PCV2, Mhp and PRRS. ESPHM, 2017;311.
7. Gomez-Duran O, Strachan WD. In use stability of PRRS MLVs when mixed with PCV2 vaccines. AD Leman Swine Conference, 2021; poster number 80.

3FLEX^®, Ingelvac^®, Ingelvac CircoFLEX^® and Ingelvac MycoFLEX^® are registered trademarks of Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Canada Inc., used under license.
© 2023 Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Canada Inc. All rights reserved. CA-POR-0030-2023