Written by Leah Douglas and Tom Polansek
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. farmers are ramping up pressure on the Biden administration to allow vaccinations to protect chickens, turkeys and cattle from avian influenza infections that have devastated their flocks for three years.
This fall, for the first time, flocks in the $67 billion U.S. poultry industry are facing the dual risk of infection from dairy farms and migratory birds that can spread the disease.
Avian influenza, which is deadly to poultry and reduces milk production in dairy cows, has wiped out more than 100 million chickens and turkeys since 2022, the largest outbreak in U.S. history.
Rose Acre Farms, the second-largest U.S. egg producer, is seeking permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to administer the vaccine, CEO Marcus Rust told Reuters. The company lost millions of chickens in the outbreak and is relocating its chicken-breeding facility in Indiana because it is across the highway from a wildlife preserve that attracts migratory ducks, he said. spoke.
“We are farmers. We want our animals to live,” Rust said.
This year, the virus has spread to cattle in 14 states and infected 13 workers at dairy farms and poultry farms, leaving scientists and federal officials concerned about the risk to humans of further spread.
In an August letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the nation’s major egg, turkey and dairy industry groups argued that vaccine deployment was justified given the economic costs of the outbreak. Federal lawmakers also say the USDA should accelerate vaccine research and develop new ways to help farmers avoid outbreaks.
“It is clear that there is no end in sight to the current outbreak,” a group of more than a dozen lawmakers, led by Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra and Democratic Rep. Jim Costa, wrote in a separate letter to Vilsack in August. ” he said.
A USDA spokesperson said the agency is working with state and federal agencies and researchers to protect livestock, farmers and farm workers and is studying animal vaccinations.
But in a previously unreported March letter to members of Congress, Vilsack said the vaccine campaign faces challenges, including potential barriers to exports. Many countries have banned the import of vaccinated poultry over concerns that the vaccines may mask the presence of the virus.
“Wide-scale vaccination of commercial poultry is not possible in the short term,” Vilsack wrote in the letter, obtained by animal rights group Farm Forward through a public records request and shared with Reuters.
“Reason for hope”
More countries are considering vaccines, which were once taboo. France started vaccinating ducks against bird flu last year. New Zealand, which has never had an outbreak of avian influenza, is testing a vaccine on five species of wild birds.
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The United States last year approved emergency use of an avian influenza vaccine to protect California condors.
“The vaccine is only used in this particular case in the United States because the bird is listed as an endangered species,” said Juliana Lennock, a wildlife disease expert at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. said. He said in a webinar Thursday that the U.S. has vaccinated 94 condors and stopped deaths from bird flu.
Bird flu wiped out 17 million egg-laying hens between April and July, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. By August, the retail price of eggs was more than $3.20 per dozen, a 16-month high, according to federal data.
Brian Moscogiuli, vice president of Eggs Unlimited, said the egg industry needs to increase supply to keep prices down and the Great Migration period creates uncertainty.
Bird migration season is underway, with waterfowl migrating south from northern states such as Minnesota, and is expected to continue into December, experts say. Andy Ramey, a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said green teal can migrate as far as South America.
In Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of chicken meat, migration could lead to further infections among wild birds, the poultry association said.
Migratory birds can carry the virus and infect poultry without dying. But the number of wild birds becoming infected appears to be decreasing, perhaps because their immunity is increasing, Ramey said.
“There’s reason to be hopeful,” he said.
(Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington and Tom Polansek in Chicago; Additional reporting by Lucy Kramer in Wellington and Roberto Zamora in Sao Paulo; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Bill Berkrot)
