From this Sunday, ducks will begin to be vaccinated in France against avian flu. A vast campaign is launched by the State. Faced with successive crises, many breeders were impatiently awaiting this vaccine. Despite everything, for some, his arrival is far from solving all the problems.
This is a first in Europe. France wants to vaccinate 64 million ducks against avian flu in one year and this campaign begins on Sunday 1er october. All commercial duck farms, in other words meat ducks intended for consumption (“Muscop” ducks, “Pekin” ducks and Mulard ducks, those reserved for the production of foie gras) are concerned. This is an obligation throughout mainland France (with the exception of Corsica) and if the breeder does not respect it, he risks administrative and criminal sanctions.
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This vaccination campaign, led by the General Directorate of Food, was decided by the Ministry of Agriculture when nearly ten million poultry were slaughtered during the 2022-2023 season due to influenza. highly pathogenic avian. The vaccine administered is that of the German laboratory Boehringer Ingelheim, which must supply 80 million doses to France. Two injections are planned. The first must be carried out on ducklings 10 days old and older, and the second, 18 days later.
The Ministry of Agriculture indicates that this act must be supervised by a livestock health veterinarian, mandated by the prefects. Based on this principle, this official veterinarian can inject the vaccine but this is also the case for other practicing veterinarians, the breeders themselves, their employees as well as agricultural technicians. The need to be supervised by an official veterinarian may be a limit, according to Sylvie Colas, national avian flu referent for the Confédération paysanne. This poultry breeder in Lectoure in the Gers has also stopped breeding ducks in favor of chickens because of the difficulties caused by the avian flu epidemic.
“As we lack doctors, we also lack reference veterinarians in our countryside.”
Sylvie Colas, from the Peasant Confederationat franceinfo
“Of course, for large breeders which are integrated into so-called organized sectors, it is often the referent veterinarian who will supervise the technician for vaccination. On the other hand, for small independent breeders, it will be a difficulty to have a veterinarian who can come in a timely manner”she emphasizes.
In the Landes, in Mugron, Julien Mora, duck breeder-feeder, has not yet contacted a health veterinarian to schedule a vaccination appointment but he is not more worried than that. “I’ll have to take care of it. There will be a slot in the first week of October”, estimates the man who is also the national avian influenza spokesperson for the Modef union (Movement for the Defense of Family Farmers). For Julien Mora, not all breeders will vaccinate at exactly the same time.
This breeder is more concerned about the time it will take: “Vaccination is additional work, monitoring after vaccination is also additional work. For breeder-feeders like us who do everything, these are additional burdens to add to our organization”. During vaccination, the task will be more or less long because you will have to catch each duck and then carry out a subcutaneous injection. And you will have to start again 18 days later for the second dose, and so on for each batch of ducks throughout the year. The breeder, who “makes” up to 8,000 ducks per year, also wishes to be “shape” by the health veterinarian in order to be able to administer the vaccine to his poultry himself.
Mandatory post-vaccination monitoring
The post-vaccination surveillance mission also rests partly on the breeder. In particular, he will have to take samples from dead ducks. He will also have to schedule appointments with an official veterinarian every 30 days and at the end of each batch so that he can come and carry out analyses. Succeeding in managing everything is this aspect that concerns Julien Mora. “At Modef, it’s true, we have been asking for the vaccine tool for a long time, he admits. But here, the strategy is to vaccinate the ducks all year round.”
“Rather than doing something systematic, I wonder if it wouldn’t have been more relevant to do it based on risk periods.”
Julien Mora, breeder-feeder in Mugron, in the Landesat franceinfo
“We could have vaccinated for the winter and not necessarily for the summer when we experience fewer outbreaks of cases,” he adds.
Sylvie Colas, of the Confédération paysanne, also notes that avian flu does not only affect ducks. “Certainly, he was the first contaminated but chicken and laying hen farms were also contaminated and there, only the duck will be vaccinated. And we must not forget that the breeding ducks will not be vaccinated whereas in certain departments, they can represent 20% of production and they have been contaminated in the past, in Vendée and Deux-Sèvres.she specifies.
“Vaccination is only part of the solution, she continues. In the South West, the buildings are filling up as if nothing had happened last year and everyone is hoping that vaccination will solve the bird flu problem, so I hope there won’t be not too many disappointed breeders”. The vaccine is “very effective” to limit the spread of the virus according to ANSES, despite everything, the Ministry of Agriculture explains that it is “a complementary prevention tool”. “On its own, the vaccine is not capable of 100% protection of a farm. Complying with preventive measures therefore remains imperative: biosecurity measures; health surveillance for early detection of the disease; control of the density of farms to limit the spread of the virus.write the authorities.
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Sylvie Colas, like Julien Mora, are mainly wondering about the support for this campaign. This year, the State is absorbing 85% of the total cost, or nearly 95 million euros (55 million euros for the vaccination part and 40 million for the surveillance part). According to the breeder, the remaining cost this year should be around 20 cents per duck: “We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Will there be the same care next year or will the State consider that it’s too much for ducks that we don’t care about? Isn’t sure yet that they won’t get bird flu?”. Julien Mora explains that if this remaining charge were to approach the 50 cent mark, “it would be potentially absorbable, with a rounded back”. On the other hand, if it were to exceed 50 cents, there would really be no other choice than to pass this increase on to the consumer.