“Florida Poultry Companies Request Government Authorization for Avian Influenza Vaccines”

Florida companies argue that this is an important tool to ensure investment, in view of the recovery of schools affected by positive cases.

poultry companies of the Bio bio regionstrongly affected by the bird fluhave requested the Government the authorization to be able to import vaccines against the virus. The companies affirm that it is a necessary instrument to stop the advance of avian fever and to ensure their investment focused on the recovery of the flocks.

“This process is disbursement and when you just see a return, the chickens can die. The vaccine is transformed into a receipt of 100% of the capital that can be invested. The vaccine is not the perfect solution, but today it is the most convenient and it is what is at hand”, assured Ignacio Vera, general manager of the Poultry Check of the commune of Florida.

On the effects of not having the vaccine, Vera He added that “I don’t know which person would be willing to spend hundreds of millions of pesos if they can be thrown away immediately. With an infected bird he would be losing everything. So, only in our case, with 205,000 chickens, repopulating the farm has an approximate cost of $1,200 million, that only in spending on birds”.

Strategies

The general manager of Avícola Chequén commented that some strategies are already being analyzed in conjunction with the authorities. “The possibility of zoning (dividing land by zones) is even being analyzed in the places in Chile where the flu has hit the hardest and perhaps authorizing vaccines for that sector,” Vera closed.

For his part, Sergio Vallejos, manager of Avícola Sepúlveda Palou Operations, another of the companies that have been affected by the flu, commented that “we have just finished slaughtering all the birds in accordance with the resolution issued to us by the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG). Now the company must think twice if it wants to start populating the halls again to start producing again, because something like this can happen again and it means being willing to lose all the investment capital again. We’re talking big terms.”

In addition, Vallejos was emphatic in pointing out that biosecurity measures are not enough, considering the production process of the industry, since birds must be constantly transported within the farms. “The virus is so strong, fast and aggressive that, in the end, physical barriers are not enough with all the measures that we can implement and that are recommended by the SAG,” he said.

Regarding the possibility of a vaccine, the Operations Manager of Avícola Sepúlveda Palou said that “it is the tool that makes it possible for companies to continue operating with a risk of infection. It is an instrument that will allow you to prevent the entire squad from dying”.

Along the same lines, Vallejos announced that they have already talked with suppliers to bring vaccines. “As companies we are not asking that we care about vaccines, what we are asking is that they let us import it. We have already made contact with some vaccine suppliers and they have told us that it is available to be able to import it. We can do it, but we don’t have the import permit,” he commented.

Government

In this regard, the Minister of Agriculture. Esteban Valenzuela, in the Senate Agriculture Committee He admitted that for now, it is not within the Government’s strategy to administer the vaccine against avian influenza given that “worldwide data have not shown the necessary effectiveness. We have formed a committee of experts that is studying the matter”.

In the same instance, Ignacio Correa, president of the Association of Egg Producers (ChileHuevos), He explained that “on average a plant takes 5 years to recover its production. We need the help of the State, so we request compensation to bird owners who have lost more than a thousand birds. We also ask that productive birds be included in the agricultural insurance policies provided by Corfo,” Correa explained.

Likewise, ChileHuevos graphed the loss that this disease has meant for its sector in the per capita drop in the availability of eggs.
His representative indicated that “in 2021 the production was 248 eggs per capita and today it is 224, which is due to the deaths of the infected specimens and those that have had to be sacrificed preventively (…) We know that with the vaccines there are a controversy because it limits exports of poultry products (chicken and turkey) but this cannot affect the egg industry. We need the birds to be vaccinated.”
For their part, the members of the Senate Agriculture Committee agreed to send a letter to the Treasury so that permanent resources can be available to face this scenario.