According to Agrocalidad, the farm where the latest bird flu outbreak has been detected has been given permission to be vaccinated.economy | news

The farm where the bird flu case was last detected has been cleared for vaccination. This was confirmed by the Phytosanitary and Veterinary Regulatory Agency (Agrocalidad) on Monday, July 31. The case was confirmed on 27 July at a farm in Salcedo State, Cotopaxi Province.

Christian Zambrano, animal health coordinator at Agrocalidad, assured that they had the results on Saturday morning, which is why in Tungurahua, Cotopaxi and Chimbora Vaccination coverage has been expanded at the provincial level in Chimborazo. In addition, the official assured that all applications from the poultry sector to authorize vaccinations have been approved, including those from farms where outbreaks were recently detected.

“It’s already a matter of the owner, who himself decided to delay the vaccination, and we’re dealing with the case now,” Zambrano explained, without elaborating on how many farms and birds in the three provinces in total will be vaccinated.

After the last bird flu case was detected, MAG ordered the extension of vaccinations to the provinces of Cotopaxi, Tungurahua and Chimborazo

He confirmed that after almost four months of epidemiological silence, in which commercial farms have been free of the disease for more than 100 days, and after the last detection of an outbreak, the technical subcommittee, together with Agrocalidad, decided on the response to the notification. He reiterated that previous vaccinations were carried out in and around the affected areas where the outbreak occurred, but now due to the nationwide epidemiological behavior of the disease, vaccinations have been extended to the provinces.

The official clarified that the decision on vaccination comes from the technical committee of the National Poultry Farming Council, which is composed of technical representatives from trade unions, universities, Agrocalidad, and all issues related to poultry farming are analyzed in Ecuador.

According to Agrocalidad, 8,661,738 birds have been immunized so far since the vaccination program started on March 3 last year. Zambrano explained that to enter the vaccination process, farms must adhere to biosecurity protocols and disease-negative sampling.

Marisol Molina, executive director of the Union of Egg Producers (Uniproh), said since the first reported presence of bird flu in the country in November, they had asked for approval at the national level for vaccination until 2022, but Agrocalidad and The technical subcommittee decided that it should only be applied in and around the focus of the point where disease was detected.

Agrocalidad detects a new bird flu case in Tungurawa

Then, in discussions with officials from the State Department and producers in Ambato (Tungurawa) on June 2, they again called for the opening up of vaccinations to poultry that needed the vaccine, whether or not they differed from the previous situation far. Infected. That request was granted at the weekend after new cases were confirmed nearly two months later.

Regarding the situation of poultry that has not had any news yet, Molina emphasized that these farms are currently strengthening biosecurity measures, while those farms that have started vaccination are proceeding according to the established plan.

Meanwhile, according to Agrocalidad, Molina said 13 poultry farms have been affected since the first outbreak of the disease. Eight months later, not all farms have restarted as their losses are all over, the leader assured, insisting that MAG provide the necessary help for their restarts.

“Due to the intervention on these farms, the sale of hens in production and the non-adaptation of new products, 30% of the (egg) production in our industry has been affected; only about three poultry were reactivated in small numbers,” said Uniproh executive director. (Yo)