PARIS, May 21 (Reuters) – Governments should consider vaccinating chickens against bird flu, which has killed hundreds of millions of birds and infected mammals worldwide, to prevent the virus from becoming a new pandemic, the head of the World Organization for Animal Health. (WOAH) said.
The severity of the current outbreak of avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, and the economic and personal damage it causes, have led governments to reconsider vaccinating chickens. However, some, such as the United States, remain reluctant mainly because of the trade curbs it entails.
“We are coming out of a COVID crisis where every country is realizing that the hypothesis of a pandemic is true,” WOAH Director General Monique Eloit told Reuters in an interview.
“Since almost every country that does international trade is now infected, maybe it’s time to talk about vaccination, in addition to systematic culling which remains the main tool (to control the disease),” he said.
Paris-based WOAH is holding a five-day general session from Sunday, and will focus on global control of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI.
A WOAH survey showed that only 25% of its member states would accept imports of products from chickens vaccinated against HPAI.
The 27 member states of the European Union agreed last year to implement a bird flu vaccine strategy.
France, which will spend about one billion euros ($1.10 billion) in 2021/22 to compensate the poultry industry for massive cullings, is set to become the first EU country to start a vaccination program, starting with ducks .
“It is our duty to use other tools that are now available such as vaccination. And this, for animal health, for public health but also to respond to social challenges,” said the French Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau at the launch of the WOAH General Session.
Eloit said the EU’s move toward vaccination could prompt others to follow suit.
“If a bloc like the EU, which is a big exporter, starts to move in that direction, it will have a ripple effect,” Eloit said.
The US department of Agriculture (USDA) told Reuters on Friday that “in the interest of leaving no stone unturned in the fight against HPAI, the USDA continues to research vaccine options that can protect chickens from the ongoing threat this”.
However, it still considers biosecurity measures to be the most effective tool for mitigating the virus in commercial flocks, it said in emailed responses.
The risk to humans from bird flu remains low but countries must prepare for any change in the status quo, the World Health Organization said.
Eloit said vaccination should focus on free-range chickens, mainly ducks, because bird flu is contracted by infected migrating wild birds. Vaccinating broilers, which account for about 60% of global poultry output, is less significant, he said.
The H5N1 strain that became prevalent in the current HPAI outbreak was found in a larger number of mammals and killed thousands of them, including sea lions, foxes, otters and cats.
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Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Hugh Lawson
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