agriculture minister reuters

Leah Douglas

Feb 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture will take “about 18 months” to find a vaccine against the current bird flu virus and is developing a process to distribute it, Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Wednesday.

So far this year, the USDA has detected bird flu in eight commercial flocks and 14 backyard flocks, affecting 530,000 poultry, according to agency data.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 81 million poultry and waterfowl have died from avian influenza in 47 U.S. states since January 2022.

“It’s probably going to be about 18 months or so before we have a vaccine that’s going to be effective against this particular disease that we’re dealing with right now,” Vilsack told a congressional hearing.

Vilsack said the USDA plans to discuss poultry vaccinations with its trading partners amid concerns that other countries may restrict imports of vaccinated poultry.

The World Organization for Animal Health said in May that governments should consider vaccinating poultry against bird flu to prevent the virus from spreading into a pandemic.

The U.S. government said last year that France’s decision to vaccinate ducks against bird flu would lead to restrictions on French poultry imports.

(Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Javier Leila in Spanish)