Bird flu vaccines for hens prove effective in practice, says Dutch government

Bird flu is raising mounting concerns as the disease is increasingly spreading to mammals, with the first-ever outbreaks detected in dairy cows in the US raising concerns about it spreading to humans through the nation's milk supply. Picture: Shannon VanRaes/Bloomberg

Bird flu vaccines for laying hens are effective in practice, the Dutch government said, while confirming plans to vaccinate poultry against the virus that ravaged flocks around the world and is raising fears about human transmission.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has killed or caused the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry globally in recent years, most of them laying hens, which sent egg prices rocketing.

A first series of tests by Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) early last year showed that two vaccines against bird flu, produced by France's Ceva Animal Health and Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim, were effective against the virus.

"In September 2023, 1,800 day-old chicks were vaccinated against bird flu. The results show that the two tested vaccines are effective against infection with the virus eight weeks after vaccination," the Dutch agriculture ministry said in a statement.

"The fact that the vaccines work in practice is a very important step towards the large-scale vaccination of poultry against the bird flu virus," it said.

Bird flu is raising mounting concerns as the disease is increasingly spreading to mammals, with the first-ever outbreaks detected in dairy cows in the US raising concerns about it spreading to humans through the nation's milk supply.

- Reuters