Vietnam has finished vaccinating fowls nationwide against bird flu, while the disease is cooling down, according to a local animal health agency Thursday.

Over 242 million poultry turns (each dose for a fowl being considered one turn, two doses for the same fowl regarded as two turns) have been vaccinated so far, said the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Initial assessment showed that all flocks of vaccinated chickens and ducks have not fallen ill, Hoang Van Nam, the department's deputy director, said. His department has yet to review the efficiency of the nationwide vaccination campaign conducted since August 2005.

He said 18 localities have detected no new bird flu outbreaks in their territory for at least three weeks, meeting the criteria for declaring free of the disease, reducing the number of affected provinces nationwide to three, namely the two northern provinces of Cao Bang and Ha Giang and the central province of Quang Tri.

Since Oct. 1, 2005, a total of 21 cities and provinces of Vietnam have been stricken by bird flu, which has killed and led to the forced killing of roughly 4 million fowls, the department said. The number of dead and slaughtered poultry in the country in 2004 was 43 million.

The Vietnamese government has instructed the agriculture and healthcare sectors to make greater efforts so that the country will see no bird flu reoccurrence in 2006.

Recently, the government instructed the agriculture ministry to remove a ban on the import of processed poultry products, which was in place in late October 2005. The government is considering the possibility of abolishing a ban on the import of live fowls and eggs from unaffected countries.

In late October 2005, the ministry decided to cease import of all kinds of poultry, including ornamental birds, and related products between November 2005 and March 2006.

Source: Xinhua