In the United States, poultry vaccination may focus on eggs, in contrast to chickens, raised for meat. During the outbreak, more than 77 percent of the affected domestic poultry were commercial eggs. In a press release by USDA, Rollins said the agency is considering a strategy that is targeted and thoughtful of Muslims for vaccination.
But the chicken industry is worried that even chicken vaccination will hurt the US, this is the second largest poultry exporter. Ashley Peterson, senior vice president of scientific and managerial issues at the National Chicken Council, said other countries were able to ban all American poultry products, even when the United States only vaccinated. When you switch to a vaccine, basically you are saying that the virus is endemic and this is how we will deal with it, she said. We want not to deal with the virus. We want to remove it completely.
This organization supports USDA's current policy on the elimination of infected piano, as well as increasing biosafety for farms, vehicles such as newly bought animal isolation, poultry protective clothes, sterilizing shoes before entering animal areas and cleaning farm equipment.
But Carol Cardona, a professor of poultry health at the University of Minnesota veterinary, said that biosafety alone was unable to eliminate avian influenza. Farmers are very tired to hear about biosafety because they are doing everything they can, she said. There is no additional information on how those birds are infected, it is difficult to target biosafety accurately.
The virus can be brought in and out of the poultry cage on shoes, clothes and equipment moving in and out of the poultry cage. Mice, mice and other small mammals can also carry viruses.
With this disease very common, Cardona said, it will lose more than one strategy to reduce outbreaks. We fought this war with one hand tied behind and I thought there were other tools, she said. We have to create new methods to avoid it and partly will be related to that vaccination.
Even when immunization does not always prevent infection, Lorenzoni says it will still help reduce the amount of virus circulating in the environment, which will slow down the spread of the disease to more farms.
And trade interrupts may be short. Rollins said USDA will work with trading partners to limit the impact on the trade market exports from potential vaccination. Lorenzoni said there would be pressure from other markets to keep the international poultry exchange feasible. It is the best benefit of everyone to move as quickly as possible with these trade agreements, he said.