Avian flu: after 2 million poultry slaughtered in December, France wants to vaccinate

Europe 1 with AFP 9:14 p.m., December 22, 2022

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 French government 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.

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.

An episode of avian flu never seen

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.

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.

“If all the signals are green, in May, we will have functional, authorized vaccines, and an appropriate health and economic strategy,” he summarizes.

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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. Herders, psychologically and financially strained, would struggle to endure a devastating third winter, as the virus is becoming endemic on the continent.

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

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

The epidemic continues in particular to ravage those located in Vendée (94 outbreaks), in Maine-et-Loire (38 outbreaks) and Deux-Sèvres (33 outbreaks).

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.

The vaccine race is on

But France cannot act alone, and its plan depends on authorizations at European and international levels.

European regulations authorizing the principle of vaccination "should come into force at the end of February", according to the government, while only a year ago, "professionals and stakeholders were directly opposed to it".

However, there remains the risk that some importing countries will refuse to buy poultry or products from vaccinated birds, fearing that the vaccine will "mask" the presence of the disease and that the virus will then spread to them "low noise".

France will therefore have to conduct bilateral negotiations with its trading partners to get them to agree to import vaccinated chickens.

A halt in French poultry exports would represent a loss of 500 million euros for the sector.

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Five vaccines are now available worldwide, and only one has a marketing authorization in Europe for chickens, according to ANSES.

However, it dates from 2006, “and the vaccine strain (…) has not been updated since”.

Five European countries have entered the race for the vaccine, and most of the results of the experiments should be known in the first quarter of 2023.

Two French laboratories including Ceva are working on a vaccine for waterfowl (ducks), while the Netherlands are working on a vaccine for chickens, and Italy for turkeys.

“If we wait until May to start production, we will not be able to vaccinate in the fall”, notes however the ministry, which will therefore approach “the companies concerned to see how to anticipate the deadline” – without saying more about its involvement. at this stage.