November 16, 2005

China seeks nationwide poultry vaccination against bird flu

China's state chief veterinarian Jia Youling said the country sought to vaccinate all poultry nationwide, in a bid to curb the spread of bird flu.

Jia added that the fees "will be covered by the government."

According to Jia, China currently has about 5.2 billion poultry as livestock, while the country raised about 14 billion annually.

The Ministry of Agriculture said health authorities are currently producing over 100 million doses of bird flu vaccine a day, but some regions were still reporting shortages.

China has stepped up its vaccination efforts lately in response to recent outbreaks in the regions of Anhui, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, as well as Hunan and Hubei.