Last July, the General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas (CGAAER) submitted its report to the Ministry of Agriculture on ” the place of vaccination in the fight against highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) Over sixty pages, the CGAAER analyzes the vaccines present for gallinaceae or under development for waterfowl, their ability to meet the expectations of the sector, their effectiveness, the possibility of using them and under what conditions. .
The mission first recommends preventive vaccination, it being understood that no HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) vaccine to date suppresses viral excretion. No question of waiting for the virus to circulate to subject the ducks to the vaccine. “Preventive vaccination in an unaffected region is possible, at the very beginning of autumn, in years when the risk assessed during the summer on epidemiological criteria would justify it. Either before any outbreak detection. »
The criteria in question refer to precise international monitoring as it already exists and to the “first warning signals linked to mortality in migratory birds in Russia and Kazakhstan. »
Export challenges
Second principle laid down and which the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health) also supports: “vaccination cannot replace health control measures. It cannot be applied, at the risk of ineffectiveness, only to farms already achieving a good level of biosecurity. The recommendation stops there. We are not clearly talking about making vaccination conditional on confinement. However, this is what Modef and the Confédération paysanne fear…
Third principle: use targeted vaccination of mule ducks, Muscovy ducks and geese. The mission considers that the vaccination of palmipeds associated with strict biosecurity measures and an adapted monitoring plan would allow “an absence of contamination of the environment” and would thus spare the vaccination of gallinaceae. The CGAAER has both feet on the brakes concerning the Gallus, particularly with regard to the economic issues linked to export.
Issues found for waterfowl. Because if so far the profession has revolved around vaccination without triggering it, – beyond the fact that there is currently no marketing authorization for duck vaccine – , is that the process is prohibitive for certain third countries which fear the importation of healthy carriers. The French export market would be destabilized with losses estimated at 250 million euros for the sector.
The Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie intends to take advantage of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union to encourage Europe to create a common framework for possible vaccination procedures on its territory and then initiate procedures with the OIE and third countries to facilitate the acceptance of vaccination.