Faced with an epizootic “unpublished” of avian flu, the French meat poultry association calls for vaccination “throughout the European Union” when the serum will be available, under penalty of generating trade distortions, in a press release released on Tuesday, December 27.
“It’s worse than anything”: between affliction and anger, poultry farmers suffer an unprecedented avian flu epidemic
In France, where some 3.3 million animals have been slaughtered since August 1, the government has set itself the objective of launching the first vaccination of poultry in the fall of 2023.
No effective vaccine
Anvol, which brings together 20 organizations representing the sector, from hatching to distribution and catering, calls on the French State to implement a “health diplomacy” and to “to act so that vaccination against avian influenza is adopted throughout the European Union”.
“It would be incomprehensible if some EU Member States, major poultry producers, refused the European framework for vaccination and used this argument as a commercial advantage”underlines the Anvol.
Europe experiences “the most devastating” bird flu in its history, more than 50 million birds slaughtered
At this stage, there is no sufficiently effective vaccine, having a marketing authorization. European regulations authorizing the principle of vaccination “should come into effect at the end of February”according to the government, while only a year ago, “professionals and stakeholders were directly opposed to it”.
Five European countries have entered the vaccine race. France and Hungary are working on a serum for waterfowl (ducks, geese), the Netherlands and Belgium for chickens and Italy for turkeys.
A sector worth one billion euros per year
On the importer side, there is still the risk that some countries will refuse to buy poultry or products from vaccinated birds, fearing that the vaccine will mask the presence of the disease and that the virus will then spread to them quietly.
While “French poultry sector exports represent more than one billion euros per year”Anvol requires guarantees to preserve the economic balance of a sector whose “Exports represent more than 60% of turnover”.
“Closing export markets to France would have disastrous consequences for certain territories in terms of employment”according to the interprofession, which claims some 100,000 jobs in the country.
France, the 2nd poultry producing country in the European Union in 2021, should drop to 4th place, behind Poland, Spain and Germany, with a supply down by almost 10% in 2022, a year marked by the outbreak of avian influenza, according to an estimate by Anvol in September.
