A global One Health Trust study reveals low vaccination coverage in food animals for high risk diseases

Animal vaccination could offer significant benefits in animal health and food security, food safety, climate change mitigation, and trade, but remains an underused tool outside of high-income countries. An OHT-collaborative study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides the first global estimates and analysis of vaccination coverage and incidence for 104 livestock diseases among cattle, poultry, and pigs in 203 countries and territories from 2005 to 2025.

Using data primarily sourced from the World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), researchers – from the One Health Trust (OHT), Princeton University, WOAH, and the University of Zürich – calculated the number of reported disease cases per year and provided estimates of disease incidence. They also provide in-depth evaluations of the 11 diseases most widely targeted by official vaccination programs in 2025.

The researchers’ analysis shows significant shortfalls and variations in animal vaccination globally, and opportunities to increase animal vaccination to maximize the benefits of expanded coverage.

The study found that

• Global vaccination coverage for highest impact diseases in cattle is 17 percent against foot and mouth disease, 34 percent against lumpy skin disease, 7 percent against Brucella abortus, 12 percent against anthrax, and 8 percent against rabies.
• Global vaccination coverage for highest impact diseases in pigs is 7 percent against classical swine fever, 5 percent against anthrax, and 8 percent against rabies.
• Global vaccination coverage for highest impact diseases in poultry is 18 percent against Newcastle disease, 17 percent against infectious bronchitis, 9 percent against infectious laryngotracheitis, 15 percent against infectious bursal disease, and 9 percent against Marek’s disease.
• The researchers predict that the greatest reductions in global livestock disease burden would come from prioritizing the expansion of vaccination efforts in India and Argentina for cattle; China and Russia for pigs; and China, Brazil, and Iran for poultry.

Improving livestock vaccination has wide-ranging benefits. It enhances productivity and economic outcomes by reducing disease-related losses in animal growth, milk, meat, and egg production—effects that are especially significant in low- and middle-income countries where livestock mortality is higher. Sick animals often produce proteins that aren’t safe for consumption, and animals that test positive for disease are hard to export, limiting access to markets and trade. Better vaccination coverage also contributes to climate change mitigation, since healthier animals enable comparable production with smaller herds, reducing resource use and greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, vaccination lowers reliance on antibiotics, thereby decreasing the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria spreading to humans, animals, and the environment at a time when global antimicrobial use in livestock and demand for animal-based products—particularly in Asia, Africa, and South America—is projected to rise substantially.

According to study author and One Health Trust President Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan, “The gaps in animal vaccination rates between economically well off and disadvantaged countries are huge. This is unacceptable but also offers a great opportunity to tackle antibiotic resistance, pandemic spillovers, methane emissions from livestock, and poverty cost-effectively with a single set of interventions.”

The study authors call for urgent action, including:

• improving animal vaccine efficacy levels as a goal for research investment;
• scaling up vaccine production capabilities to achieve lower prices;
• expanding research to understand what factors play the biggest roles in determining vaccine efficacy and vaccination campaign efficiency in low- and middle-income countries.

The study “Global Vaccination Coverage and Disease Incidence in Cattle, Pigs, and Poultry” is available in PNAS.

Check out the presentation on the study’s findings here.