Ducks soon to be vaccinated against bird flu?
The Cifog foie gras interprofessional organization is asking the State to form a working group to study this possibility in the future, while this disease is taking its toll this year in the South-West.
"We ask the State to open a file on vaccination" with the creation of a "working group that brings together scientists, laboratories, professionals and administration under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture", declared Marie -Pierre Pé, director of the Interprofessional Committee for Foie Gras Palmipeds (Cifog).
"It is a strong demand from the field", therefore from breeders, to open this reflection, she added.
434 of the 447 farms in the South West
The South-West is still struggling with the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8 (commonly known as avian influenza), which, especially in the Landes, empties their duck farms and prevents relaunching production with new ducklings.
According to a latest ministerial report, France has 447 breeding households, including 434 in the South-West.
More than two million poultry (mostly ducks) have been slaughtered there in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus.
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This episode comes four years after that of the winter of 2016-2017, marked by the slaughter of 4.5 million palmipeds.
Producers then demanded to be able to vaccinate the herds, an option currently prohibited in the European Union.
"It is extremely important to open this subject to the highest levels" and "to put science around the table", insisted Marie-Pierre Pé, who intends to directly question Prime Minister Jean Castex, traveling in the region Friday.
"Vaccinating animals is technically delicate"
In addition to the economic losses, the profession warns of the threat posed by these repeated crises, and the resulting slaughterings, on a whole "exceptional genetics", like the gray goose of the South-West.
“At present, the vaccination of animals is technically delicate,” recalls the Anses health agency on its site.
“It must be ensured that the vaccine is well adapted to the viruses present in the area under consideration and that the implementation of the vaccine does not promote the inapparent circulation of the wild virus in vaccinated birds.
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Asked during a trip to the Gers, the Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie had ruled out the vaccine path, in part because it "would prevent a good number of breeders from exporting their production to countries not allowing not the importation of vaccinated products ”.