Faced with the health threat, the French State wants to act.

Faced like the rest of Europe with a catastrophic epizootic of avian flu which led to the slaughter of tens of millions of poultry on the continent, the executive set itself the objective on Thursday of launching the first vaccination of poultry in the fall of 2023.

In France, from August 1 to December 21, 3.3 million animals have already been slaughtered, half of which are ducks.

Two million were killed in December alone, according to the French Ministry of Agriculture.

Results of the first tests in March 2023

Despite many obstacles, this ministry presented Thursday the main lines of an action plan to "avoid a new crisis" next fall.

A real logistical challenge, knowing that at this stage there is no sufficiently effective vaccine, with a marketing authorization, and even less European regulations authorizing vaccination.



According to the schedule presented on Thursday, the first results of the laboratory experiments should be known around March 2023. "To date, they are rather encouraging, with a good response to the virus", according to the ministry.

The most severe bird flu in history

During the same period, the National Health Security Agency (ANSES) will be required to present different “relevant vaccination scenarios”.

It may recommend, for example, to start with certain species, ducks and turkeys being the most fragile.

The French State will then try to define its vaccination strategy, quantify its cost, and determine who will pay.

The bird flu epizootic is the “most devastating” in Europe in its entire history, European health authorities estimated on Tuesday, with more than 50 million birds slaughtered in infected farms alone between 2021 and 2022. .

The acceleration in the spread of the virus is linked not only to the drop in temperatures, but also to the "high migratory activity of wild birds", the ministry said.

A total of 226 outbreaks have been recorded on farms since August 1.

The previous wave in France, between the end of November 2021 and mid-May 2022, had led to the euthanasia of more than 20 million poultry.

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