Abstract: Synthetic vaccines for both the Indiana and New Jersey serotypes of vesicular stomatitis virus are provided. Recombinant vaccinia viruses are created with DNA sequences which encode antigenically active VSV proteins. Vaccinia virus sequences are inserted in plasmids and DNA sequences corresponding to encoding portions of the VSV genome are inserted into the plasmids with flanking vaccinia virus sequences. In cells transformed with such plasmids and also infected with vaccinia virus, homologous recombination occurs, producing the modified vaccinia viruses which act as vaccines encoding VSV proteins and inducing anti-VSV immune responses in inoculated animals.