EU approves limited bird flu vaccinations
A European Union veterinary expert panel today approved limited preventative flu vaccination plans presented by France and the Netherlands amid fears that bird flu could spread further.
The plans were authorised only for certain birds in specific regions and will be subject to rigorous surveillance and control requirements, the EU said in a statement from Brussels.
“Targeted preventative vaccination, accompanied by sufficient guarantees, is allowed,” said EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou.
He said recent outbreaks of bird flu “compounded the need to explore every possible option” to fight and prevent its spread.
Seven EU nations have confirmed the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. EU health ministers are to hold urgent talks on Friday in Vienna with UN experts on the virus.
The veterinary experts, drawn from each of the 25 EU governments, took two days to decide on the two separate proposals.
Experts and EU governments are divided over whether vaccinating poultry provides adequate protection against H5N1 or poses a greater risk by helping the highly pathogenic avian influenza spread faster.
The approval means France and the Netherlands, the EU’s largest poultry producers, can go ahead with their precautionary measures.
The French plan foresees the immediate vaccination of ducks and geese in three risk areas – including Landes, a region famous for producing and exporting fois gras – until April 1.
The French this week bought 30 million doses of a bird flu vaccine for poultry and want some 900,000 birds vaccinated.
The Netherlands – which fought an outbreak of a different type of bird flu three years ago – wants to give poultry farmers across the country the choice of either locking up their birds or medicating free-range laying hens and privately held poultry.
The European Commission said there were between 1 million-3 million “hobby birds” and around 5 million free-range laying hens in the Netherlands.
For both plans, the EU panel said vaccinated poultry must be kept apart from other birds and the vaccination of the birds could also limit the trade of the birds and their products.
Some EU members, including Britain and Germany, have questioned the effectiveness of vaccinating poultry. The vaccine may provide some protection against standard flu – not H5N1 in particular.
EU experts added that the vaccine provides no guarantee the birds will not become infected by the virus. They noted that the virus could mutate to withstand the vaccination and spread undetected.
