May 4, 2005

600,000 chickens to be vaccinated in Vietnam's anti-bird flu drive

According to Vietnam's animal health department sources approximately 600,000 chickens in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial hub, will be vaccinated against the H5N1 bird flu virus. This is a trial for the massive immunization mission of poultry across the country.

The director of the country's animal health department, Bui Quang Anh told a local newspaper that the chickens would be given a vaccination produced by the French company, Merial.

Vietnamese government has taken up the poultry immunization project after health experts sounded alarm that there could be another full-scale outbreak of bird flu in Vietnam this year if there was no vaccine or if sterilization is not done in areas containing birds.

Health experts also warned that the H5N1 virus could cause an epidemic if it mutates into a type that could be spread between people effortlessly.