April 7, 2023

 

French health agency backs vaccination programme to combat bird flu

 

French health and safety agency ANSES has endorsed the government's plans to vaccinate millions of poultry birds against bird flu, providing three different scenarios for the introduction of the first such programme in the EU, National Post reported.

 

Governments have been hesitant to implement vaccination programmes because of the trade restrictions that they would entail, despite the fact that the virus is spreading throughout the world and killing hundreds of millions of birds.

 

France, the worst-affected member of the European Union last year when it had to cull more than 20 million birds, announced in December that it planned to start immunising birds this fall and had given the health and safety agency ANSES the task of outlining a number of solutions.

 

ANSES reported back with three scenarios, none of which call for immunising broilers, which make up the majority of France's poultry and are thought to have a low risk of contracting the virus.

 

The most limited plan would involve administering millions of doses of vaccine to all poultry birds used for breeding.

 

A second option, to be used concurrently or at a later stage, includes foie gras ducks, free-range turkeys and ducks, as well as potential future free-range layer pullets. A third option includes all layer hens and web-footed poultry not already covered elsewhere.

 

The French government tends to at least partly follow ANSES recommendations.

 

France has authorised two companies, France's Ceva Animal Health and Germany's Boehringher Ingelheim to develop bird flu vaccines for ducks. Ceva said initial results were very promising, notably by sharply reducing the excretion of the virus by infected birds.

 

ANSES also stressed the capacity for the virus to jump across species barriers, posing a potential risk to human health.

 

-      National Post