France: The avian flu vaccine slows down exports

This is one of the collateral damage of the unprecedented duck vaccination campaign launched in France this week. While farms of more than 250 ducks began on Monday the much-awaited compulsory protection of their animals with an avian vaccine in an attempt to finally stop the repeated waves of avian flu which have been decimating them for eight years (32 million animals slaughtered on the last two years), the first client countries - the United States, Canada and Japan - began closing their borders this week. Not only to French ducks, but also to hatching eggs and poultry. This is not a surprise: although France has been considered free from avian influenza since August, they believe that a vaccinated animal presents a risk: that of being a healthy carrier of the flu virus. A pitfall which explains why France took several years before resolving to this vaccination strategy, potentially detrimental to poultry exports (25% of its production). The economic consequences could, ...