France: Avian influenza almost gone after vaccination

The number of cases of avian influenza in the French poultry sector has declined by 96% since the government started a massive vaccination campaign 2 years ago, according to the National Research Institute for Agricultural, Food and Environment, Inrae.

At the beginning of this month, the third wave of vaccination of thousands of ducks at farms with over 250 animals began. There is one change though: the department of agriculture only pays 40% of the vaccines while that was 70% last year and 85% in the year the campaigns started.

In previous years, France suffered some major outbreaks of avian influenza, with hundreds of farms affected and millions of ducks or other poultry culled.

In October 2023, the department started its first vaccination campaign – a first in the world – the French authorities say. The campaign was supported by both the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and the European Commission.

“Vaccination has been recognised by WOAH as an additional tool for controlling the disease, one that must be founded on strict surveillance to demonstrate the absence of circulation of the virus,” the Department of Agriculture quotes in a recent document. “Recourse to vaccination should not lead to negative consequences for international trade insofar as member countries follow WOAH standards.”

In the EU, France is, so far, still the only country with such a policy.

As a result of the vaccination, there were only 11 cases of avian influenza in commercial poultry, compared to 396 in 2022/2024 and even 1,378 in the previous year, Inrae figures show. France was officially declared free of avian influenza in February this year and has maintained a ‘low risk level’ since May.

However, the French animal health epidemiological surveillance platform (ESA) warns that the risks of an avian influenza infection from wild birds is still high. Significantly, the United Kingdom registered over 70 cases in poultry holdings in the summer months.

Anses, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, was asked before the campaigns started to evaluate several scenarios from the epidemiological standpoint in order to define a strategy for the vaccination of poultry against highly pathogenic avian influenza, the department says in its background notes.

“Anses’ opinion provides a framework for consideration of the implementation of a vaccination campaign, setting out a priority ranking for target populations and geographical areas of application. These scientific factors were then considered alongside the technical, economic and husbandry aspects to arrive at a possible vaccination strategy for preventive purposes, the goal being to prevent the epizootic flaring up once again, while at the same time maintaining control over the impacts on exports, the operational feasibility of the vaccination campaign and the cost.”

Tags: vaccination, Avian influenza, France, poultry sector, ducks