The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has come out in full support of vaccination to curb and prevent bird flu outbreaks.
The WOAH – the global authority on animal health – has focused on vaccination of poultry and animals for its first annual State of the World’s Animal Healthreport, released this month.
The report says highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI or bird flu) is “a global emergency destabilising agriculture, food security, trade and ecosystems”.
In the last 20 years, the world’s poultry farmers have lost more than 633 million birds due to infection or culling efforts aimed at controlling the spread of bird flu. The economic fallout has been severe, with major disruptions in international trade, affecting local poultry industries and consumers of poultry products.
Addressing the impacts of bird flu requires an urgent, multifaceted solution to protect economies, livelihoods and biodiversity, while strengthening resilience against future outbreaks, the WOAH says.
The report notes that vaccination against bird flu is increasingly being considered as a complementary tool in disease management due to the global rise in outbreaks and the growing genetic diversity of circulating virus strains.
“Traditional sanitary control measures, such as mass culling, have proven costly, both economically and socially, raising concerns about their long-term sustainability. While biosecurity, surveillance, and movement controls remain essential, vaccination can complement these efforts by reducing virus circulation within and between flocks, minimising economic losses and lowering the risk of spillover to wildlife and humans.”
Furthermore, it says, when properly implemented, vaccination aligns with international trade standards, ensuring poultry products remain marketable.
It quotes Julian Madeley, director general of the World Egg Organisation, as saying that vaccination, in conjunction with biosecurity and surveillance, could be a very useful tool to control the spread of bird flu in laying hens.
“Newcastle disease serves as an example,” Madeley explained.
“Once we had effective vaccination strategies, it became a manageable problem. Outbreaks still occur, but they no longer devastate the industry as they once did.
“We believe the same can happen with HPAI if vaccination is widely adopted alongside robust surveillance measures.”
Many countries had already rolled out successful vaccination campaigns, including China, the world’s largest egg producer, France, Guatemala, Kazakhstan and Peru. And, as more and more countries adopt vaccination against HPAI, it is crucial that both vaccination and surveillance are carried out to a high standard.
“We need to continue advocating for vaccination as an additional tool, complemented by biosecurity and surveillance. And we must ensure that best practice tools are made available to farms so that they can carry out these measures effectively,” Madeley stated.
