October 25, 2022

 

UK poultry company urges for bird flu vaccinations

 

 

Traditional Norfolk Poultry, a poultry firm that has lost 100,000 birds to bird flu, has urged for vaccinations to be rolled out to stop the spread of the outbreak, BBC News reported.

 

Following measures in the Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex areas last month, the UK has been declared an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ).

 

Mark Gorton, Traditional Norfolk Poultry's managing director, said this flu strain is extremely virulent and contagious.

 

Richard Irvine, the deputy chief veterinary officer for the UK, declared that vaccination was not a component of the disease policy and strategy.

 

The UK's Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs said this was the largest bird flu outbreak to ever affect Britain,

 

There has been an increase in cases in Norfolk, Suffolk, and some areas of Essex, with Norfolk being the hardest hit with at least 39 cases this month. The Attleborough region of that county had the highest density, with 12 cases.

 

Gorton's chicken and turkey farms in Norfolk were the sites of six outbreaks. He lost 10% of his stock, or 100,000 birds.

He said they have  never experienced it as bad as this, and they just can't seem to control it, adding that avian flu "normally dies out over the summer but it's actually getting worse.

 

Farmers needed to be allowed to vaccinate the birds, he csaid, adding that they were doing everything we possibly can.

 

Gorton said vaccines are readily available, but sadly, legislation prevents them from using them. He said the only option is vaccination, and they immunise our chickens against diseases that in the past would have wiped them out; once the vaccine is approved for use, avian flu will be the same.

 

Avian influenza must be protected against with "scrupulous biosecurity, Irvine, the UK's deputy chief veterinarian said.

 

Regarding the use of vaccines, he said that discussions were ongoing at an international level.

 

-      BBC News