August 24, 2012

 

Bangladesh to launch vaccination programme over bird flu check

 

 

The much-awaited vaccination programme in the poultry sector will be launched by the Bangladeshi government within a week to check avian influenza or bird flu in the country.

 

The vaccination programme will begin experimentally in Gazipur district of Dhaka division, said Director of the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) Musaddique Hossain.

 

Hossain, also head of a seven-member expert committee on bird flu vaccination programme, said at first a total of 2,225 farms will be brought under the programme in the district.

 

"If we get a positive result, we will apply the medicine across the country," he added.

 

Meanwhile, poultry sector leaders said nearly 47% farms were closed during the last one and a half years due to spread of the avian influenza virus. The number of farms has been reduced to 60,824 from 114,763 during the period, showed a study revealed by Bangladesh Poultry Khamar Rakkha Jatiya Parishad.

 

Poultry farmers repeatedly demanded that the authority allow vaccine against the influenza as it spread out epidemically in the country and destroyed millions of chickens in the last six years.

 

The expert committee was formed in last June to make a study over introducing bird flu vaccine to minimise the avian influenza situation from the poultry farms across the country.

 

Besides, a 22-member high-powered National Advisory Committee (NAC) was formed last year under Avian Influenza Response Plan (AIRP) to check and eliminate bird flu in the country.

 

The authority has taken the vaccination programme based on the expert committee's recommendation, said livestock department officials. But the poultry farm owners have expressed mixed reaction to the government initiative saying that the way of vaccination programme is not proper.

 

Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association (BPIA) Joint Secretary General Khandokar Mohsin said it is a very good decision of the government to rescue the poultry sector from being ruined.

 

"But the authority is going to apply the medicine suddenly and so we will not get a chance to test the effectiveness of the vaccine," said Mohsin.

 

Earlier the authority told the farmers that at first they will experiment the vaccine in only 10 farms.

 

"Now they are going to bring hundreds of poultry farms under the vaccination programme," said Mohsin adding "why will we go for a massive experiment that may cause our business to face a risk?"

 

The BPIA secretary also said that they demanded of the ministry concerned to produce vaccine locally so that the poultry producers can afford it easily. He said the government is yet to try to develop the medicine locally and now they will purchase it from foreign countries. "The farmers will be forced to spend extra money to buy imported medicine."

 

The poultry producers also said the farmers will not be benefited from the government initiative but a section of drug importers will be able to make hefty business by capitalising on the advantage.

 

Musaddique said, "We are going to import bird flu vaccine after having examined it by the country's eminent scientists; so there is no doubt about the quality and effectiveness of the anti-virus medicine."

 

"I can't understand why poultry farm owners are opposing the programme now as it was a key demand of the farmers," said the DLS director.

 

He said if we want to start vaccination shortly, there is no alternative to importing the drug. "Within a year we will go for producing the avian influenza vaccine locally." According to him, the vaccine will be imported from Mexico and USA.

 

Bahanur Rahman, Professor, Department of Microbiology and Hygiene of Bangladesh Agricultural University, said that the government step is proper enough to minimise the impact of the disease from poultry sector. He said there will be no bad effect in poultry farms following the vaccination. "The programme may be helpful in reducing the contamination of the disease.