BFREPA Joins Government and Industry Signatories in AI Vaccine Interim Statement Ahead of Task Force Report

Published on : 8 Mar 2025

Gary Ford, Head of Strategy and Producer Engagement at BFREPA, commented:

“This winter has seen over 40 cases of HPAI, resulting in significant financial impacts, distress for affected businesses, and disruption across the poultry sector. This situation has sparked considerable interest in avian flu vaccines, both from the industry—where vaccines are routinely used to protect flocks from endemic diseases—and the media.

“As members of the joint industry and cross-government AI vaccination task force, we welcome this timely statement as an opportunity to highlight the opportunities and challenges associated with vaccination. It also serves to raise awareness that, at this point, vaccination is not yet a complete solution. For instance, surveillance is currently prohibitively expensive, and, as noted in the statement, we welcome the referenced cost-benefit analysis. The task force statement also identifies other areas needing development and better understanding, such as the potential impact on trade, creating an accredited DIVA test to differentiate infected birds from vaccinated ones, and assessing vaccine efficacy. Furthermore, we need a full understanding of vaccine protection for flocks kept longer on-farm, given the inability to vaccinate in-lay.

“Despite these challenges, BFREPA strongly supports vaccination as a key tool for protecting our flocks against this insidious disease, alongside stringent biosecurity measures. We will continue to contribute to this important dialogue.”

The report can be downloaded from the Government site here.