February 27, 2006
EU's vaccination plan met with disapproval
The EU's decision to allow France and the Netherlands to carry out vaccination on its poultry flocks has drawn flak from other European countries and Japan.
Opponents of the move said current vaccines have severe limitations because they need to be individually injected into each bird. Vaccines can take up to three weeks to develop immunity and some poultry require two doses.
The approval was opposed by Germany, Austria, Denmark and Portugal, while the UK said vaccination could mask the disease in poultry flocks, helping to spread it further.
Although vaccines protect against disease, they will not prevent birds from becoming infected and shedding virus since the symptoms are masked, the UK's deputy chief veterinary officer, Fred Landeg said.
France and the Netherlands' decisions to vaccinate were premature because current vaccines are not highly effective at reducing infection and may complicate clinical diagnosis. Joe Brownlie, a professor at the UK's Royal Veterinary College added.
The EU's poultry association has joined in the criticism of the European Commission for approving the vaccination of poultry flocks in the Netherlands and France
Furthermore, Japan has announced it will ban Dutch poultry if it goes ahead with the vaccination programme.
In defense, the European Commission yesterday said that vaccination reduces the risk of poultry becoming infected by bird flu. It will also slow down the rapid spread of bird flu in the general environment since it reduces the number of birds harbouring the virus. If an outbreak of the disease does occur in a vaccinated flock, its spread will be easier to contain and eradicate, the Commission stated.
The EU's new Avian Influenza Directive, adopted in December 2005, allows members to carry out vaccination against avian flu.
France applied to vaccinate ducks and geese in areas considered to be at high risk of bird flu. Vaccination was deemed necessary as these birds cannot be easily put indoors where they could be protected from infection by wild birds.
The Commission proposal laid down conditions for granting France permission to vaccinate its poultry. Vaccinated live poultry, their hatching eggs and day-old chicks cannot be exported to another member state or a third country.
Fresh meat and meat products from the vaccinated poultry can be marketed within and outside the EU, as long it comes from approved holdings.
The Dutch vaccination plan, a voluntary one, applies to its 3 million hobby poultry and 5 million free-range laying hens.
The EU also stipulated restrictions on the movements of vaccinated poultry for both countries.
France could not have begun the vaccination at a better time: it had the EU's first confirmed outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu in commercial poultry last week.
Lab tests confirmed H5N1 in turkeys at a farm in the southeast Ain region, where thousands of the birds were found dead Thursday. The farm, which had more than 11,000 turkeys, has been sealed off and surviving birds slaughtered.
The spread of deadly flu to French commercial poultry is the first infection of a European poultry farm. The country has been taking measures to prepare for and prevent an outbreak for months.
Japan temporarily suspended imports of French poultry, including foie gras and other internal organs, according to the Japanese Embassy in Paris.
France's 200,000 farms raise 900 million birds a year generating more than US$3.6 billion in revenues in 2004.
Meanwhile, 44,000 hens have died in a poultry farm in southern Russia, a local official said Sunday.
The Emergencies Ministry reported Friday that mass deaths of poultry had been registered at a farm near the regional center Krasnodar.
Newcastle disease has been identified as one possible cause, according to preliminary tests conducted at a veterinary lab in Krasnodar.
The Newcastle disease is so virulent that many birds die without showing any clinical signs. It can wipe out entire unvaccinated poultry flocks and even vaccinated birds are not spared.
