Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), more commonly known as bird flu, remains a serious issue and Tom Vilsack, USDA secretary, testified at a congressional hearing on February 14 that the U.S. was close to finding a vaccine for poultry to combat the disease. “We are probably 18 months or so away from being able to identify a vaccine that would be effective for this particular (avian flu) that we’re dealing with now,” Vilsack said.
In 2023, USDA found HPAI in eight commercial flocks and 14 backyard flocks, which has impacted 530,000 poultry so far. More than 81 million U.S. poultry and aquatic birds have been killed by avian flu across 47 states over the past two years, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The decision to proceed with vaccination is complex and requires everything from vaccine development to production timelines to dissemination to flocks, so there are many factors that make implementing a vaccine strategy a challenge and it takes time to deliver an effective vaccine.
Once a vaccine is found, bird owners should review the resources on managing wildlife to prevent avian influenza, evaluate their biosecurity plans, and develop a strategy to prevent any exposure to wild birds or their droppings. Vilsack noted that once a vaccine is ready, it would still take time to implement the rollout strategy and the agency is “nowhere near ready” to answer all the questions that will pop up around plans.
Vilsack also said at the hearing that his agency is concerned that other countries may restrict imports of vaccinated U.S. poultry. Most countries, including the U.S., do not recognize countries that vaccinate as free of HPAI due to concerns that vaccines can mask the presence of the disease. Therefore, they do not accept exports from countries that do vaccinate.
“We would have a circumstance where, if we vaccinated today, I think we would have a number of our trading partners saying, ‘We’re not interested in your chickens,’” he said, adding that USDA is preparing a strategy to talk with trading partners about vaccinations. “There are significant implications for conducting domestic disease surveillance, as well as compliance with international standards and bilateral trade agreements with major trading partners,” the USDA spokesperson said.
For this reason, the National Chicken Council (NCC) has concerns and serious reservations about the vaccine at this time, believing that it will seriously impact trade.
“The U.S. broiler industry is the second-largest exporter of chicken in the world, exporting about 18% of our chicken meat production, valued at more than $5 billion annually,” an NCC spokesperson says. “If we start vaccinating for HPAI in the U.S., the broiler industry will lose our ability to export which will have a significant impact on the industry, while costing billions and billions of dollars to the U.S. economy every year.”
These export losses would also have a devastating impact on thousands of family farmers who raise the birds, the NCC says. “Even if one sector (eggs, turkeys) moves forward with a vaccine, the broiler industry will be impacted as our trading partners view all poultry (egg layers, turkeys, broilers, ducks, etc.) the same,” the spokesperson added. “In addition, a vaccine will not eliminate the virus. Birds can still get HPAI and may not show signs of having the virus, which allows the virus to replicate and spread—known as masking.”
While the NCC supports ongoing discussions about a vaccination program, the organization currently supports the eradication policy of APHIS and believes that, right now, this is the best approach to eliminating HPAI in the U.S.
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