July 21, 2004

Vietnam May Vaccinate Chicken Farms Against Bird Flu

Hit with a new wave of bird flu outbreaks, Vietnam is considering vaccinating its poultry at domestic breeding farms, officials said Tuesday.

Bui Quang Anh, head of the Veterinary Department under the Ministry of Agriculture, said a conference of scientists and poultry farmers convened in Hanoi Tuesday to discuss a possible vaccination program. However, no decision has been made yet, he said.

Anh said the results of a pilot vaccination program at two poultry farms in the north and south earlier this year during the initial bird flu outbreak were not promising. Vietnam had used a Dutch-made vaccine called Intervet in February during the peak of the outbreak.

Anh said he wanted to exercise caution, since the World Animal Health Organization has warned that vaccination is not the only way to fight a bird flu outbreak.

"The issue is effectiveness and the selection of vaccines. Vietnam has two problems: veterinary ability and unconcentrated poultry farming, which makes it difficult to eliminate outbreaks when they occur," he said.

The department will compile ideas and suggestions for the Agriculture Ministry, which will have the final say on the issue.

In the most recent wave of bird flu, Vietnam culled nearly 50,000 birds as small outbreaks cropped up in nine central and southern provinces. The country declared itself bird flu free at the end of March, despite the warning of health organizations that the virus remained in the environment.

Bird flu has also re-emerged in China and Thailand over the past month. Earlier this year, the H5N1 strain of avian flu swept through Asia, ravaging poultry farms in the region.

Vietnam killed or forced the cull of more than 43 million birds to prevent the spread of bird flu outbreaks. The virus also jumped to humans, killing 16 people here and another eight in Thailand.