Inception and Progress of the French National Vaccination Plan for Ducks against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) 2022-2024
Dr Thomas Delquigny Boehringer Ingelheim Commercial Poultry Marketing and Technical Manager Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health
The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) epizootic that affected French poultry farming in 2022 is unprecedented. After being confined to the southwest of France since 2016, the H5N1 virus has affected the west of France and particularly populated areas where all poultry productions are represented (ducks, laying hens, chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl, game birds). This episode, which resulted in the death or culling of more than 20 million poultry and cost nearly 1.2 billion Euros to the French state, led to a rethink of public policy for HPAI control in France. Following the adoption of a new European regulation allowing the use of vaccination as a complementary tool against HPAI, the French Ministry of Agriculture began to consider the vaccination of a portion of domestic poultry as an interesting option in France. In particular, duck populations (Mulard and Muscovy) being overrepresented among reported HPAI cases (>50% for less than 10% of the population), it appeared that vaccinating them would:
recruitment of additional labour to vaccinate, the provision of 80 million emergency vaccine doses, and their proper routing from the logistics platform where they are stored to the production areas. The vaccination campaign started on October 2, 2023, and to date (29 th January 2024), 15,970,000 ducks have been vaccinated. Pharmacovigilance feedback is very limited (6 cases in total and concentrated in the early days of vaccination). The vaccination campaign is accompanied by active surveillance measures to ensure the absence of viral circulation, including regular PCR tests and end-of- life serologies to trace any potential contamination history. All administered doses are precisely traced, and the remaining vials are destroyed to avoid any risk of vaccination on non-target species. Today, most cases observed in France (N=6) during the winter of 2023-2024 involved turkeys or unvaccinated ducks. The implementation of this vaccination involved the mobilization of all stakeholders in the sector, including health veterinarians, specialist vaccination teams in farming, the pharmaceutical industry, and the government. In light of these developments, the ongoing vaccination campaign, coupled with stringent surveillance measures, signifies a critical step towards controlling the HPAI virus in France, and it is hoped that these efforts will continue to protect the poultry industry and prevent further outbreaks in the future.
1. Limit the introduction within an area 2. Lower the spread in case of introduction
In the first half of 2023, the decision to vaccinate was made and a national vaccination plan was established. It was decided that all meat ducks would be mandatorily vaccinated, while vaccination remained prohibited for all other poultry species. About 60 million ducks are expected to be vaccinated per year, with the French state sponsoring 85% of the total cost associated with this vaccination, including the entirety of the vaccine. The implementation of this vaccination involved the mobilization of all stakeholders in the sector, including health veterinarians, specialist vaccination teams in farming, the pharmaceutical industry, and the government. This mobilization allowed for the
https://agriculture.gouv.fr/tout-ce-quil-faut-savoir- sur-le-plan-daction-vaccination-iahp-en-france
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