The United States will test a vaccine against bird flu to reduce the impact of this virus that has led to the culling of more than 58 Million birds so far and has impacted chiefly commercial operations.
Vaccination in poultry has been widespread against other pathogens, such as infectious bronchitis. Still, currently, the bird flu vaccine would be the first one in years to be administered to poultry with the purpose of protecting them from this virus.
Therefore, this kind of vaccine will help determine if the vaccines are good for the strain of avian influenza. However, people are concerned that vaccinated birds could negatively affect poultry exports from the U.S.
"The decision to proceed with vaccination is complex, and many factors must be considered before implementing a vaccination strategy," U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson Mike Stepien said in a statement. He added the USDA is "soliciting input from many different industry stakeholders that would be impacted."
"What is the trigger point of when you might use vaccination?" poultry veterinarian David Swayne, a former USDA official, said. "And that's what they're looking at. Is it so many birds in a poultry farm in an area getting infected? Or is it a certain amount of economic loss? Or is it because a neighboring state has the virus in poultry, and you're concerned? So there's those are really the tough, tough questions."
The USDA indicated last week
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