The Congressional Research Service’s Report for Congress says, “Controlling avian flu in poultry is seen as the best way to prevent a human pandemic from developing, by reducing the number of animal hosts in which the virus may evolve..”

The Office of Science & Technology says, “If undertaken in a serious manner with a good strategy, vaccination can be a very useful tool in containing an outbreak of an infectious disease.”

The NBvH, a group of small poultry holders in Holland, have sent a letter to the European Council demanding that they abandon their non-vaccination of industrial poultry policy. 40 European breeding and preservation organizations and 2 American organizations supported the letter. The new AI Directive allows preventive vaccination if the international situation is threatened.

A report by the Conservative MEP’s to the European Parliament on Avian Flu, recommends that “We want to see the development of cost-effective, multi-strain, orally administered vaccine to keep bird flu out of poultry so we can keep it out of humans.”

WHO, the World Health Organization, has stated that the best way to tackle bird flu is dealing with the source. Vaccination has proven to be an effective measure in the Asian countries that applied it.

Hong Kong started vaccinations after the 1997 outbreak and hasn’t had an occurrence of avian flu since. China is also vaccinating their birds as well as some other Asian countries.

Vietnam is in the process of trying to vaccinate all domestic animals in an effort to get rid of H5N1. The vaccine they are using comes from China and every bird has to get 2 shots; one, a month after the first.

In Ben Tre farmers are generally happy to have their animals vaccinated to prevent H5N1.

Robin Maynard of Soil Conservation says, “Defra should be considering stockpiling a vaccine which has been used in Hong Kong rather than considering the “medieval” practive of culling (slaughter).”

The International Wild Waterfowl association is in full support of the proposal by the Dutch Small Holders Asso. To the EU-Council with reference to the vaccination of waterfowl as a protection against Avian Influenza. Dr. Gary Riggs, DVM, said, “We are in the very early stages of developing a similar program in the U.S. This is a disease that CAN be better contained by strategic administration of a vaccination protocol.”

Dr. Ron Dehaven, the administrator with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, stated in a press conference, “I need to clarify that I said we do have vaccines. We have a vaccine bank. Now these are vaccines specifically for use in poultry. We have two types of vaccine -- an H5 and H7. I mentioned this, because we have concerns that a low path H5 or H7 virus might mutate and become highly pathogenic. So we have both H5 and H7 viruses, 40 million doses; 20 million are an H5 virus, and …..our colleagues have challenged (exposed to the virus) birds who have been vaccinated with that virus and found it to be very effective against this particular H5N1 virus in Asia. So we have that on hand, but that specifically is a vaccine only for use in birds.

In the state of Minnesota in the 80’s and early 90’s outbreaks of A1 in range-reared turkeys were common, and vaccines were used successfully as part of a controlled marketing program. More recently, several large layer flocks in Conneticut were vaccinated as an alternative to immediate depopulation after an H7N2 low pathogenic A1 outbreak. The vaccinated flocks were intensively monitored for virus shed using sentinel birds, bird testing, etc….With these successes, vaccination is being considered as a valuable tool in comprehensive A1 control strategies. (ars.usda.gov)

So, the point here is that there is a very viable vaccine for poultry available now, but a vaccine for humans can’t be developed until enough people have it to isolate the strain. The reasons given for not using the vaccine are: no country will import vaccinated birds, because it can’t be determined whether or not they test positive because of the vaccine or because they are sick. Not so. Italy has successfully tested a vaccine allowing discrimination between vaccinated and infected poultry. The strategy was adopted for the first time in the world in 2001 by Commission decision and allowed certain trade restrictions on the meat of vaccinated poultry to be lifted. Other arguments are that people won’t eat the vaccinated meat so grocery stores won’t carry it. That is totally bogus as (1) we eat meat from animals that have been vaccinated for many diseases every day, and (2) it is absolutely proven that virus is virtually destroyed by cooking so even if the meat of infected animals was sold, it would be perfectly safe. That also means, of course, that the only people who have contracted the virus have eaten, butchered or been in very close contact with a live or dead, UNCOOKED, infected birds.

Put simply, the government and the media have been scaring everyone to death with horror stories of a pandemic flu that the Office of Science and Technology says, “does not currently exist and at present there is low risk that it will occur at all.” They have been harping on the fact that there is no vaccine for humans against avian flu and even the vaccines we have, which might be effective, are in short supply. The rest of the world is slowly but surely departing from the ghastly and expensive solution of disposing of millions of birds when an incidence of the flu occurs, but we have been offered no hope at all and certainly no information on the effectiveness and availability of vaccines for poultry. Why?????? We didn’t combat rabies by killing every dog for miles around every time a mad raccoon was found. A vaccine was developed and given to the dogs….not the people!

Side affects of culling (nice word for killing) flocks can be far more disastrous than the economic burden of vaccination. In many cases, people hide their infected birds rather than admit there is an outbreak due to fear of having the flocks killed. Some out of love for their birds, but mainly because in many countries they get no compensation, lose their income and their food source. Starvation kills too, and that is a reality to be faced by many poor people who have lost their birds.

I won’t quote all the statements I have found….some by the very people quoted above….that state the only reason vaccinating the birds is not possible is because of the trade and economic considerations. But, that folks, is the sad truth of the situation. Avian flu can be stopped. It can’t be eradicated from the face of the earth, because it is carried by wild birds. However, the strain carried by the birds is a fairly harmless one. What appears to be happening is that once that strain infects domestic flocks, it mutates into the H5N1 strain that is deadly. In an interview with Europa.eu.int, the EU was asked , “Why is the Commission proposing new measures for avian influenza?” the answer…”legislation would establish compulsory surveillance and control measures against the low pathogenic avian influenza viruses that can be transmitted to domestic poultry from wild birds such as ducks and geese. The low pathogenic viruses cannot be eradicated from wild birds, but the infection of domestic poultry can be effectively controlled and virus mutation into the highly pathogenic forms can be prevented.” Once domestic flocks are vaccinated as a matter of course, there is NO chance of mutation and therefore NO chance of any human dying from the Avian Flu.

I have no political axe to grind here. I’ll be right up front and say I supported President Bush, but choosing to commit the mass murder of millions of animals, to unnecessarily panic the American people (some took down bird feeders!) and risk even one life, much less possibly thousands, for the sake of political clout and economic considerations, is indefensible. He has asked for 7.1 billion of our dollars for a National Strategy to Safeguard Against the Danger of Pandemic Influenza. On Nov. 1, 2005, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced a request for 91 million dollars in additional resources to safeguard the United States against highly transmissible forms of avian influenza. Of that $91 million, $10 million is earmarked for increasing the stockpile of animal vaccine by 40 million doses. Another 7.1 million is going for continued research and development of tools like vaccines, genome sequencing, environmental surveillance or bio-security measures (that means killing birds).

What is the rest of the $7.1 billion going? One place is the 50% of fair market value compensation that is given the poultry owners when their flocks are culled due to a low pathogenic outbreak (the harmless kind that COULD mutate), and the 100% compensation that is given for highly pathogenic outbreaks. Could that be why the big poultry houses haven’t been pushing for vaccination? They don’t really get hurt by having their flocks killed, but the loss and suffering endured by backyard flock, pet owners and breeders is incalculable. I have to wonder if that “fair market value” isn’t somewhat inflated on occasion. I'm quite sure a large portion of the funds will be diverted to drug companies to develop a human vaccine against the flu.  If the domestic birds are vaccinated, a human vaccine won't be necessary.  I'm sure we do need more vacilities to create vaccines if and when they are necessary, but should a red herring like Avian flu be used to get the funds? Of course, the drug companies will be delighted!

Once an economic and easily introduced vaccine that can be identified as vaccine, rather than infection, is developed (and they have most of it now!), all the emphasis politically should be on getting the world to agree to a comprehensive program that isn’t an emergency stop gap in the face of an immediate threat, but an ongoing, systematic requirement. It is generally recognized that the virus is spread far more by the transport of domestic birds than it is by wild birds. Therefore, the sensible solution would be to refuse trade of UNvaccinated birds rather than vaccinated birds.

No matter what else is done, it should be obvious that since there is a vaccine that even prevents the shedding of the virus, there is absolutely no reason why small flocks, pet birds, rare and endangered species, and breeding pairs should not have access to the vaccine at once. Since they can be tested and it can be determined that they are not infected, they would be totally protected and in no danger at all of being eliminated by USDA agents.

"VACCINATION IS A MEANS TO STOP THE SPREADING OF THESE VERY VIRULENT BIRD FLU VIRUSES AND THEREFORE A MEANS TO TAKE AWAY THE SOURCE OF HUMAN CONTAMINATION." Paula Polman MPH, chairman NBvH (Dutch Small Holders Asso.)

I think you will be very interested in a flyer put out by the Center for Bio-diversitet. Go to http://www.biodiverse.dk/english/flyer_english.htm

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/1998/981210.htm