South African poultry producers are hoping that the government will issue new vaccination rules by December this year, and that mass vaccination of the country’s poultry flock will begin in the second quarter of next year.
Vaccination has so far been stalled by government requirements that producers say are too onerous and too expensive. Only one poultry producer has so far started vaccinating, on one site. Efforts over nearly two years to negotiate a more reasonable set of rules have so far failed.
A new process is underway, led by agriculture minister Willie Aucamp, and may provide the answer, Izaak Breitenbach of the SA Poultry Association (SAPA) told News24. He hoped the Department of Agriculture would now be able to publish a streamlined set of protocols by the end of this year.
Vaccination was urgent, he said, because of widespread bird flu outbreaks in Europe, which migrating wild birds brought to South Africa. The H5N1 bird flu strain was “causing havoc” in France and Germany.
“If it comes into Gauteng, it would certainly have a material impact, and we would like to mitigate that impact by vaccinating,” Breitenbach said.
