Written by Sybille de la Hamade
PARIS (Reuters) – The European Meals Security Company (EFSA) has advisable preventive chook flu vaccination for vulnerable poultry in areas with a excessive threat of transmission to cease the unfold of the virus that killed tens of tens of millions of birds within the European Union final 12 months.
Governments are sometimes shy about utilizing vaccination due to the industrial restrictions it could entail, and have more and more thought of adopting it due to the devastation that chook flu could cause to flocks and to scale back the danger of potential human-to-human transmission.
“Preventive vaccination is the best vaccination technique to scale back the variety of outbreaks and the period of the epidemic and ought to be carried out on poultry species most vulnerable to an infection in high-risk transmission areas,” the authority stated in a scientific opinion revealed on its web site.
This opinion comes after France final week grew to become the primary nation within the European Union and the primary main poultry exporter on this planet to launch a nationwide vaccination marketing campaign in opposition to chook flu.
The authority additionally advisable that, within the occasion of an outbreak, emergency preventive vaccination ought to be carried out inside a 3 km (1.9 mi) radius of the outbreak in high-risk transmission areas.
She added that vaccination ought to complement and never exchange different prevention and management measures, corresponding to an infection surveillance in birds, early detection and biosecurity, and is advisable as a part of an built-in method to illness management.
The European Fee requested the physique to supply an summary of accessible chook flu vaccines and their effectiveness in opposition to present viruses and consider numerous vaccination plans to assist member states resolve on their very own vaccination methods once they change into mandatory, the authority stated.
A separate opinion on management and threat mitigation measures in fortified areas and farms is anticipated in March 2024.
Fowl flu often assaults throughout the fall and winter. The illness is transmitted by the feces of contaminated wild migratory birds or direct contact with contaminated feed, clothes, and gear.
(Reporting by Sybille de la Hamamede; Modifying by Mark Potter)