Why Bird Flu Vaccinations Might Not Fly With The Chicken Industry

Poultry trade organizations fear that vaccinating chickens could significantly impact exports, spur trade bans, and devastate the $6 billion poultry export industry. Vaccinating millions of chickens against bird flu would also be a huge and costly undertaking, and some believe it would fail to alleviate other mitigation needs, including flock reduction. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) told Reuters that “The use of a vaccine at this time would have detrimental impacts on poultry trade while still necessitating response activities such as quarantine, depopulation, and surveillance testing.” Read more