December 5, 2007

Vietnam to make bird flu vaccination compulsory

Chickens and ducks in 33 cities and provinces in Vietnam will undergo mandatory bird flu vaccination.

Vaccination will be enforced for both small and large scale breeding of chickens in all areas that are considered high-risk.

Outbreaks of bird flu started in Vietnam around December 2003 and have since led to forced culling of very large numbers of fowls. This new vaccination programme has been triggered by the current outbreak of bird flu which has hit the northern Cao Bang and central Quang Tri provinces involving 560 birds and 600 ducks respectively.