February 22, 2006

EU weighing vaccination options as bird flu spreads

As bird flu rages across Europe and poultry sales are free falling, EU members  remained divided on the effectiveness of vaccinating poultry. France and the Netherlands are pushing for vaccination, while the European Commission and several countries, including Britain, are opposed.

Poultry farmers may have to bear the huge costs of vaccines and undue distress may be caused to poultry. On top of that, vaccination is questionable as it would be difficult to catch free ranging birds, said Neil Parish, a member of the European Parliament.

Parish was joined by German Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer who said vaccination would be costly and logistically difficult since birds must be vaccinated twice in a three-week period. The vaccine would help prevent flu, but not specifically H5N1.

Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU agriculture commissioner, yesterday said that the situation was serious but not serious enough to compensate farmers since the disease had so far been found only in wild birds. Boel promised economic aid from the EU if the disease did enter commercial stocks.

The Netherlands and France submitted plans to carry out targeted preventive vaccination campaigns on poultry to Member States in the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCFCAH) today. The Commission will lay down specific conditions that must be met in applying the plans.

The Dutch plan entails a voluntary vaccination of hobby poultry and free-range laying hens. Vaccinated poultry will not be required to be kept indoors. Current laws forbid poultry outdoors.

The French plan involves the vaccination of 900,000 poultry in the areas of Landes, Loire-Atlantique and Vendee, which are areas at high risk of bird flu.  Vaccination will begin immediately and continue until Apr 1 2006.

Both plans include the use of unvaccinated control birds to monitor for an outbreak in the vaccinated flock, regular testing and the continued application of bio-security measures currently in place.