France begins new avian influenza vaccination round

The French department of agriculture has purchased another 67.75 million doses of a vaccine against high pathogenic avian influenza. The new avian influenza vaccination campaign will begin on 1 October. The government will cover 70% of the costs during the first 3 months of the campaign, the department in Paris has announced. France began a first vaccination round of poultry against highly pathogenic avian influenza last autumn after the country had been hit by serious, large-scale outbreaks of the disease in some previous winters, particularly among ducks, which appeared to be very susceptible to avian influenza infection. Those outbreaks occurred mainly in the south-western part of the country, which is the centre of intensive duck farming for the foie gras industry. The largest avian influenza vaccination campaign Over the last few months, some 50 million ducks have been vaccinated – this, says the department, is the first campaign seen globally on such a large scale. As a ...