November 20, 2006

One in ten chickens vaccinated in Indonesia

The Indonesian government has vaccinated about 140 million chickens against bird flu, still, this only accounts for 10 percent of the country's total flock of 1.4 billion, an official said.

However, the low quality vaccine injected into the chickens might create a new and more dangerous strain of

bird flu, National Commission's expert panel member Amin Soebandrio warned. 

In the past, chickens would die if they had bird flu, but now they are remain alive even if they have the virus, he added.

Most of the affected chickens are backyard chickens that are really dangerous as they roam from one place to another in the rural areas, he said.

Amin said he is displeased about the ad hoc way to tackle bird flu cases in the country and vaccinations were not followed through in regions where bird flu cases popped up.

Moreover, people's awareness of bio-security and the need to cull bird flu-infected poultry was still low.

Lack of funding also led to ineffective government's measures to depopulate bird flu-infected poultry, he said.

The Indonesian government has so far resisted the mass culling of birds, citing the cost and impracticality.