Vietnam to import more bird flu vaccines next month

Vietnam will import additional 25 million doses of H5N1 vaccines and 4.5 million doses of H5N9 vaccines in January 2007 to vaccinate poultry amid recent bird flu outbreaks in two southern provinces, the local newspaper People reported Wednesday.

The H5N1 vaccines will be used for unvaccinated fowls, mainly ducks unlawfully hatched and raised by local residents despite a national ban on waterfowl hatching, and the H5N9 vaccines for white-winged ducks (similar to ducks but bigger).

To date, Vietnam, which has already vaccinated most of chickens and ducks nationwide, has yet to vaccinate its white-winged duck population of nearly 10 million due to unavailability of suitable vaccines. However, it recently found that Italian H5N9 vaccines are suitable for white-winged ducks, according to the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Vietnam has basically contained bird flu outbreaks in the two provinces of Ca Mau and Bac Lieu, in which over 6,000 fowls were killed by the disease early this month. Relevant local agencies have recently vaccinated nearly 18,000 ducks unlawfully hatched by residents and culled over 11,000 poultry in the provinces' six affected communes to prevent further spread of the disease.

Bird flu will spread to the southern Mekong delta and break out in northern localities if anti-disease activities, including strict surveillance, detoxification and control over poultry transport, trade, slaughtering and smuggling are not ensured, the department said.

Source: Xinhua