February 21, 2006

EU mulls poultry vaccination, compensation over bird flu

The European Union debated ways Monday (Feb 20) to step up the battle against bird flu--such as vaccinating poultry--as the lethal H5N1 strain spread to six EU nations.

But "opinion in Europe is divided" on Europe-wide vaccinations of commercial poultry stocks, said Josef Proell, the Austrian agriculture minister who chaired a meeting of EU farm ministers.

EU Public Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said the vaccinations--which provide some immunity to a general flu virus, not specifically H5N1--were not fully effective and still require extensive surveillance. "The question is to make sure that the benefits (of vaccinations) outweigh the costs."

German Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer questioned the effectiveness of short-term, preventive vaccinations, saying it would be difficult logistically since birds must be inoculated twice in a three-week period. But he called a longer-term vaccination strategy "a fundamental necessity".

EU officials cautioned the public against panic, saying bird flu had not reached domestic EU poultry, only wild birds.

EU agriculture ministers also debated on whether to compensate farmers who say consumption has fallen, causing hundreds of millions of euros in losses.

The agriculture ministers also asked the European Commission to consider requiring visitors to the EU to declare any poultry or wild bird products they bring into the bloc or report any contact they have with domesticated or wild birds.