PARIS: The World Animal Health Organisation (WOAH) has urged world governments to consider vaccinating birds against bird flu to avoid the virus, which has already claimed the lives of hundreds of millions of birds and infected animals worldwide.
Governments have begun to reevaluate immunizing chickens in light of the severity of the current avian influenza outbreak, often known as bird flu, and the harm it has done to both individuals and the economy. Some, including the United States, are still hesitant, mostly due to the trade restrictions that this would entail.
WOAH Director General Monique Eloit told Reuters that they were coming out of a COVID crisis where every country realised the hypothesis of a pandemic was real.
“It may be time to talk about the vaccine in addition to systematic culling, which is still the primary technique (to manage the illness), she suggested, adding “since almost every country that engages in international trade has now contracted the disease.”
With a five-day general session starting on Sunday, the WOAH will concentrate on eradicating highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, on a worldwide scale.
According to a WOAH poll, just 25% of its member nations would permit the importation of goods made from chickens that had received an HPAI vaccine.
The 27 nations that make up the European Union decided to undertake a bird flu vaccination plan last year. Ducks will be introduced in the autumn in France.
“If a bloc like the EU, which is a large exporter, starts moving in that direction, it would have a rebound impact,” Elioit said.
On Friday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) told Reuters that “in the interest of leaving no stone unturned in the fight against HPAI, the USDA continues to research vaccine options that can protect poultry from this persistent threat”.
“However, it still considers biosecurity steps to be the most active tool for mitigating the virus in commercial flocks,” it said in an emailed reply.
The risk to humans from bird flu remains low, but world countries should prepare for any change in the status quo, the World Health Organization said.
Eloit said vaccination should focus on free-range poultry, mainly ducks since bird flu was transmitted by infected migrating wild birds. She said that vaccinating broilers, which account for about 60 per cent of global poultry output, makes less sense.
The H5N1 strain prevalent in the current HPAI outbreak had been detected in a larger number of mammals and killed thousands of them, including sea lions, cats, foxes and otters.
