Bird flu vaccination programme delayed as stocks dwindle

The health ministry has postponed the third round of vaccination of poultry against bird flu this year till early October, almost three weeks off schedule, due to insufficient vaccines, an official said Friday September 30.
Bui Quang Anh, head of the Ministry of Agriculture and rural animal health department, explained that since the country depended on imported vaccines, which were shipped in batches of five to seven million doses, it could not ensure a sufficient supply in a short period.
Anh said Vietnam needed to import some 380 million doses of vaccines from China and the Netherlands to immunise 260 million birds in a mass vaccination programme which was due to end in November.
Vaccination had been carried out in 28 cities and provinces and nearly 28 million birds had been inoculated, the Vietnam News Agency reported Friday.
Anh said the National Committee for Bird Flu Prevention and Control would ask local authorities to adopt drastic measures to prevent the spread of the disease during the cold season between December and March, when its incidence was high.

 

Category: Health