Avian influenza: France begins to vaccinate and the US and Canada prohibit its imports

On October 1, France began the first vaccination campaign for ducks against highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). This is a first, not only in the country but also around the world. Almost 64 million ducks are affected. On the occasion of the start of vaccination, Canada has decided to ban live birds and unprocessed chicken meat and eggs that come from France. Canada has had HPAI outbreaks since December 2021 and has impacted 7.68 million birds. The US has gone even further. It has banned the import of live ducks, duck eggs and duck products from France and its trading partners. What is vaccination like in France? Vaccination will be mandatory on farms that have more than 250 ducks (Barbary, Mulard and Pekin) whose products (meat and foie gras) are intended for marketing. This is the entire metropolitan territory (with the exception of Corsica), which represents approximately 64 million ducks that must be vaccinated on 2,700 farms, during the 2023-2024 campaign period. This ...