France: The Avian flu vaccination campaign launched in early October

“This is a new stage that is being prepared,” underlined the minister, congratulating breeders and veterinarians for their “commitment and involvement in this upcoming campaign”. Vaccination will apply "compulsorily" to all commercial duck farms, both "mulard" ducks (raised for foie gras) and "Barbary" or "Pekin" ducks, according to the ministry. 64 million ducks are currently affected. The state will pay "nearly 85% of this operation of 94 million euros", said Marc Fesneau. Vaccination is prohibited on breeding duck farms for all those whose production is intended for export in order to “not block certain commercial flows”, the ministry explained in July. “For vaccination, the earlier the better. The earlier we vaccinate, the lower the risk of a new devastating wave for farms,” Brice Guyau, president of the FDSEA in Vendée, told AFP. Nine million poultry had been slaughtered at the beginning of 2022 in the department, and more than 2 million in the fall of the same year. The ...