Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie said on Friday that there was “no other solution in the long term than to acquire vaccination” to fight once morest bird flu, announcing the upcoming start of an experimentation phase of “two vaccines, including one from a laboratory in New Aquitaine”.
The issue of vaccination in poultry farms “is essential” and “should not be a taboo subject”, assured the minister in front of journalists in Mont-de-Marsan, where he met breeders and elected officials, while the number of households continues to increase in France.
No vaccine authorized in Europe
Denormandie spoke of “a large meeting with industry professionals on January 12 to determine the areas and protocols” for these experiments. “We are the first European country to put (this) in place. It will then be necessary to obtain approval at European level and I will therefore have to convince the other Member States of the value of vaccination, ”he said.
On Thursday, foie gras professionals had deemed it “essential” to vaccinate ducks in the future once morest avian flu, a virus transmitted by migratory birds and which affects France for the fourth time since 2015, each time generating costs and considerable losses for ranchers and the state. To date, according to the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, “no vaccine suitable for birds of the Anatidae family (palmipeds) is authorized by the European Commission”.
63 outbreaks detected Friday evening
Mr. Denormandie indicated that on Friday evening, 63 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza had been detected in farms, once morest 46 the day before. A large half (33 outbreaks) is located in the Landes department alone, where around 155,000 poultry were shot since the detection of a first outbreak in mid-December. The previous episode of avian flu, last winter, had resulted in the slaughter of 3.5 million poultry, mainly ducks in the South-West, stronghold of foie gras.
“We are going to renew the compensation mechanisms put in place last year. In the Nord department (where the first seven French outbreaks were detected, from November 26), they have already been opened. In the Landes, they will be from mid-January ”, assured the Minister.
If Julien Denormandie described the current situation as “very worrying”, he also assured that there were in the Landes “three times fewer cases” than last year at the same time. “We have a reactivity which is beyond measure compared to last year”, he assured, saying he was ready to adapt current protocols to the development of the situation.
