On 20 February, the European Commission approved a regulation allowing the European Union to fall back on vaccination against the highly pathogenic forms of avian flu as a means of preventing or controlling the disease.
DAccording to the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), the demand for rules for vaccination against bird flu comes from the member states, which have been confronted with the highly pathogenic bird flu virus since the summer of 2022.
Since the 1990s, Europe has had a non-vaccination policy for bird flu, but that policy is no longer tenable. In a text that will come into force on March 12, the European Commission specifies the types of vaccines authorized, their follow-up and the rules for transporting the animals.
In accordance with international standards
The committee ensures that these harmonized rules are in line with the international standards of the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), so that there would be no obstacles to trade with third countries.
These international standards already allow vaccination against bird flu and do not impose any trade restrictions, provided that the control of the vaccinated animals shows that bird flu is not circulating there.
At the same time, the European Commission admits that the application of these standards, and more specifically for this new approach to the disease such as vaccination, can cause difficulties because countries that are not members of the European Union do not always follow the standards of the respect WOAH.
The rules laid down by Europe stipulate that vaccinated poultry and their derivatives may be transported provided certain conditions are met. One of the rules is that no vaccines may be used with a ‘live’ bird flu virus, regardless of whether that virus is weakened or not. And there must be control and follow-up after the vaccination.
Testing in the Netherlands
In Egypt and several countries in Asia, among others, vaccination against bird flu is carried out. But those vaccines are not effective enough in the field against the new, highly pathogenic bird flu and have not been able to stop the outbreaks in these countries.
Vaccination studies for highly pathogenic bird flu are currently underway in several European countries. Since last year, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) in the Netherlands has been investigating the effect of 3 bird flu vaccines from 3 different pharmaceutical companies. These vaccines against the virus are tested in laying hens.