Over 100 members of the poultry industry came together in Stratford on the weekend for a conference hosted by the Poultry Industry Council.
Avian influenza has been plaguing the industry for years and the possibility of a vaccine being introduced has given hope to many who fear for the health of their flock.
Helen Wojcinski is a researcher at the University of Guelph and she gave a presentation on the subject. “An effective vaccine will significantly reduce viral effect, it will not stop birds from becoming infected. So even if you vaccinate a flock, if they get exposed to high path influenza, if they test positive for influenza, they're still going to be destroyed.”
The vaccine has yet to be approved for sale and there are significant barriers that could prevent it from ever coming to market. Wojcinski went on to warn that although the vaccine could prove effective in curbing the spread of the disease, it would only be part of the strategy to eradicate it all together.
Wojcinski believes that trade barriers prohibiting vaccinated animals will prevent the wide-spread use of a vaccine to combat avian influenza despite its potential to curb infection.“There have been cases in other countries where vaccine has been used and it has been successful but it has to be extremely controlled, there has to be a lot of additional surveillance, and it has to be part of a bio-security initiative.”
