By Sybille de La Hamaide
PARIS (Reuters) – The United States is working on a bird flu vaccination scenario focusing on turkeys in the few states that gather the largest number of turkey farms, a move that would best meet a benefit-cost strategy, its chief veterinary officer said on Tuesday.
However, no decision to vaccinate has yet been made, Rosemary Sifford, who is also deputy administrator of the Veterinary Services program at the Department of Agriculture (USDA), told Reuters at the general session of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) in Paris.
The conference has been focusing on highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu.
The severity of the current outbreak of bird flu has led some governments to reconsider vaccinating poultry, but others such as the United States have been remain reluctant, citing trade curbs this would entail.
“Any vaccination strategy would need to be a very focused strategy… I would certainly not expect to do a widespread vaccination if we were to choose that path,” Sifford said.
“We would be looking at a very specific targeted potentially geographic- and species-oriented that maybe focus on certain turkeys in a certain area. These are the country scenarios that we have been talking through,” she added.
Regionalisation and compartmentalisation per farms or species are allowed under WOAH rules and often reduce the risk of having country-wide trade barriers.
Turkey meat is expected to account for about 10% of total U.S. poultry production in 2023 and exports are expected to account for about 7% of total turkey production, USDA data showed. In contrast, exports of chicken meat are estimated at about 16%.
Sifford sees “no positive impact” in vaccinating chickens since they have a short lifespan.
“For us, turkeys have been the species most affected in terms of facilities,” she said.
The National Turkey Federation, which represents U.S. farmers and processors, supports the development of a vaccine, its president said.
The USDA said in November that more 70% of commercial poultry farms affected in the 2022 outbreak were turkey farms.
The USDA told Reuters on Friday that it continued to research vaccine options against bird flu to “protect poultry from this persistent threat” but still considers biosecurity measures to be the most effective tool for mitigating the virus.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide, additional reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
