October 2, 2006

UK orders Intervet bird flu vaccine for its poultry

Britain's farm ministry said on Friday (Sep 29) it has ordered 10 million doses of vaccine from Akzo Nobel's unit Intervet to protect poultry against bird flu.

The ministry said the vaccine purchase, which can be used against both the H5 and H7 strains of the virus, followed a tendering process in July.

Five million doses are already at Intervet's production facility in Spain and are expected to arrive in the UK within the next 3 weeks.

The rest of the order would be given a 13¨Cweek period for delivery.

Earlier this year, the ministry ordered 2.3 million doses of vaccine for possible preventive vaccination of zoo birds.