Do you think they will succeed in an avian bird flu vaccine for chickens?

[scottischicken]

I read in the news that they are working on a vaccine for avian bird flu in chickens. Do you think they will succeed in an avian bird flu vaccine for chickens?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I don't really know, do you know how much effort there is to this end?
I could be wrong but it seems every year there is a new variant so I don't know how successful it would be.

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

I think they will succeed in making a vaccine for one variant of AI, but there seem to be so many its unlikely IMO that it will work to eradicate it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Historically, the virus goes away with warm weather. It usually shows up with waterfowl migration each year. It is usually a different variant.

I found this on the USGS website.

Avian influenza (AI) viruses are classified by a combination of two groups of proteins: hemagglutinin or “H” proteins, of which there are 16 (H1 to H16), and neuraminidase or “N” proteins, of which there are nine (N1 to N9).

Many different combinations of “H” and “N” proteins are possible. Each combination is considered a different subtype and can be further broken down into different strains. AI viruses are further classified by their pathogenicity, low or high, based upon the ability of a particular virus strain to cause disease in chickens.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses in poultry are usually H5 or H7 subtypes of Type A influenza, although low pathogenic forms of these H5 and H7 viruses also exist.

 

[RoyalChick]

There is already a vaccine. Some countries already vaccinate. It has also been used in the US under a special emergency license to save endangered condors.

 

[igorsMistress]

https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-conditionally-approves-vaccine-protect-poultry-avian-flu

 

[RoyalChick]

They are approving an untested mRNA vaccination for poultry.
Egg Prices Not an Accident

This may seem controversial to some, but I would think anyone owning chickens would want to understand there is more to this story and this isn't just about safety.

Not sure I understand the point (the link didn't work). Some countries have been vaccinating poultry for over 20 years.

 

[RoyalChick]

The link is updated (or google search the title).

That may be true, but this is not a treatment that has been around for 20 years or been used in other countries that can be evaluated for use in the US. This is a brand new, untested intervention, as the video discusses. Don't take my word. Do your own research. This potentially contaminates our food, while also removing the freedoms to provide or raise organic poultry.

The only reason for my post is to propose that those who enjoy raising chickens, for profit or for personal benefit, should be seriously asking questions and understanding exactly what is being planned or proposed, whether commercial or backyard flocks. Do your own homework. This is something that was funded only in January and appears to be moving quickly due to all the hype on egg shortages.

Any untested or overreaching medical treatment, made mandatory, changes the dynamics of owning poultry for eggs or meat, completely.

Thank you for explaining. I do indeed do my own research. I tend to read peer reviewed academic papers rather than sources with a political agenda.
Vaccines (they are not treatments) for avian influenza have been in use in other countries for 20+ years. Both US and EU resisted because of trade treaties that prevent imports of meat from vaccinated birds.
The virus that causes avian influenza is very changeable so that the precise vaccine is often highly localized even down to provinces (for example in China). So to that extent each one is ‘new’ just like the human flu shot is new each year.

 

[bwood002]

Thank you for explaining. I do indeed do my own research. I tend to read peer reviewed academic papers rather than sources with a political agenda.
Vaccines (they are not treatments) for avian influenza have been in use in other countries for 20+ years. Both US and EU resisted because of trade treaties that prevent imports of meat from vaccinated birds.
The virus that causes avian influenza is very changeable so that the precise vaccine is often highly localized even down to provinces (for example in China). So to that extent each one is ‘new’ just like the human flu shot is new each year.

That's the point. No real testing (academic papers) have been done. However, if you search you can find recent studies. Sadly, even academic papers can be politicized these days.

Vaccines are not treatments. You are making my point.

I took down the video. Though, I do not believe it was pushing a political agenda at all and the expert that provided the information is credentialed and specifically references the policy being proposed. Do your own homework. Ignoring policy only allows for bad policy when the public is not truly informed.

People who own poultry might want to know more about the policies being proposed right now. That is my point.

 

[horselover1999]

Who would the vaccine be for? How and when would it be administered?
I have experience in the commercial poultry industry, and the only time broilers or layers are vaccinated is at hatch with either an in-ovo just before they are transferred to the hatcher, or sprayed with vaccine as they are packed into trucks to go to the farm. Vaccinating as chicks with one of these methods would be easy to integrate with existing systems. Any other vaccination time would take lots of time, labor (penning and catching), and people trained to vaccinate correctly.
If it would need to be injected, teams of people would have to be hired to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of birds a day to keep up with vaccinating every bird. I have vaccinated thousands of chicks (smaller scale university hatchery) that replace our breeder birds, and it takes a couple hours to vaccinate a couple hundred depending on how squirmy the chicks are.
Would it need a booster vaccine? That would be a viable thing in a layer or broiler breeder operation, but not worth it for broilers since they don't live that long.
As others have stated, the flu mutates very quickly, and vaccines are only effective against a specific strain/mutation. If they can't find a quick way to change antigens from one strain to the other, it might not be worth it. Antigens can be shared between strains, though, so a vaccine for one strain could be partially effective against another strain.

It could be available to backyard flocks and smaller producers, but lots of those vaccine ampules are only available in dosages for hundreds of birds at a time, and expire after a certain amount of time being mixed with the injection medium, so it wouldn't help anything to save the extra vaccine mix.