USDA Develops Potential Plan to Vaccinate Poultry for Bird Flu

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO, June 20 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering a potential plan to vaccinate poultry against bird flu for the first time that includes evaluating how it would affect exports, the agency told Reuters this week.

The actions advance the government’s assessment of a vaccine after the USDA received proposals on usage from associations representing egg and turkey producers whose farms have been devastated by the virus. Nearly 175 million chickens, turkeys and other birds have been culled in attempts to contain outbreaks since 2022 in the nation’s worst animal-health emergency.

Losses of egg-laying chickens drove egg prices to records this year, prompting grocers to ration supplies, restaurants to hike prices, and food manufacturers to increase imports from countries including Turkey, Brazil and South Korea.

The USDA pledged to spend up to $100 million on research into vaccines and other therapies to combat bird flu after prices spiked.

Now, USDA and industry officials are pursuing a more solid, written plan to potentially show importers to gauge whether vaccinations would limit trading. Industry members expect the agency to complete the plan in July.

The USDA said this week that it is working with federal, state and industry officials to develop its potential plan and is engaging with trading partners.

“You need a more complete strategy and plan for them to consider,” said Dr. John Clifford, a former USDA chief veterinary officer who advises the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council.

Debates over potential vaccinations have pitted poultry producers against each other since widespread outbreaks in 2015.

Many egg and turkey farmers said they need vaccines to help protect flocks. But government officials and companies that produce chicken meat have worried that inoculations risk all types of U.S. poultry exports, if countries impose broad bans over concerns that a vaccine might mask the presence of the virus in flocks.

It would be devastating to chicken meat producers if importers halted trading, Clifford said. Such producers rely more heavily on exports than egg and turkey farmers, and they have not been hit as hard by the virus.

The USDA has spent more than $1 billion compensating farmers for culled flocks, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, increasing costs for the epidemic.

“We can’t continue to operate the way we are today,” said Dr. Craig Rowles, a vice president at egg company Versova.

Chicken Vs. Egg

Major losses of egg-laying hens prompted the United Egg Producers industry group to begin work on its own proposal in January, representatives said. It asked four longtime veterinarians, including Clifford and Rowles, to work on a plan it submitted to the USDA.

Their plan suggested an initial vaccination for baby chicks, followed by a booster shot and then testing of flocks every few weeks, Rowles said. Vaccinations would make chickens less susceptible to infections, while routine testing would increase monitoring for outbreaks, he said.

Flocks that test positive would still be culled under the proposal, Rowles said, adding that such cullings would likely be important to importers seeking to avoid the virus.

The National Chicken Council, which represents chicken meat companies, said it does not object to the USDA moving ahead with a vaccine if producers can maintain exports. The council had warned in February that vaccinations of any poultry birds, such as laying hens, would jeopardize exports of all U.S. poultry products.

Glenn Hickman, president of egg producer Hickman’s Family Farms, blamed the chicken meat industry for opposing vaccinations that could help save his flocks. The virus has decimated about 6 million of his birds since May, or 95% of his production in Arizona.

“Let me protect my chickens,” Hickman said.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Marguerita Choy)