National Poultry Commission evaluates use of vaccines against bird flu with Senasa

“To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, that is the question”, as in the first line of a soliloquy from William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, thus is the National Service for Food Health and Quality (Senasa) in front of the bird flu. He summoned the National Poultry Commission to evaluate the experiences elapsed in the last months and examine the technical-scientific information available, with the objective of carrying out an analysis regarding the use of vaccines against the disease.

The agency reported that in order to continue advancing in joint strategies for the management of the emergency by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (IAAP) agreed to prepare a diagnostic document for decision making.

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The meeting was attended by the president of Senasa, Diana Guillén; the national director of Animal Health, Ximena Melón and her work team; representatives of the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA); the Center for Poultry Processing Companies (CEPA); the Argentine Chamber of Poultry Producers (CAPIA); from the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences of the National University of La Plata (UNLP); and other representative institutions of the veterinary profession and the productive sector.

Vaccination and experiences from other countries

“Vaccination is a sensitive issue and Senasa understands the particular concern of each sector. It is necessary to carry out a technical-scientific evaluation of the available information and the experiences of all the countries that have been suffering the consequences of the presence of the disease for several years,” he said. Guillen.

“All these data, added to the decisions of the World Organization for Animal Health (OMSA), will allow defining the best strategies for the poultry chain and for the country. We have great expectations about the results of the work of this work team that we make up with the public and private sectors, ”he added.

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During the meeting, Senasa professionals spoke about the different types of vaccines existing in the worldthe experiences in countries that maintain an inoculation calendar and the necessary stages of a vaccine evaluation process.

Likewise, another of the issues involved at the time of evaluation of a HPAI vaccine are those sanitary requirements and/or restrictions established by some of the markets where Argentina exports their avian goods. This consideration was very important during the meeting, since any possible strategy will be evaluated in a context of market support.

Teamwork between the public and private sectors

In this way, progress was made in the formation of a work team made up of the private sector and technical agencies, which will have the mission of preparing a diagnostic document that evaluates the risks and benefits of a possible vaccination against the disease, with the specific objective of being able to delimit an inoculation strategy.

“Risk analysis involves teams of experts dedicated to working exclusively on the subject for a certain time. We are forming a public-private group to carry out the risk analysis, studying the costs and benefits of the vaccine as a complementary tool,” said Melón.

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In addition, the national director of Animal Health of Senasa added that “moving forward with the vaccine registration protocol does not mean using the vaccinebut to have the registration advanced so that, when the time comes, if a decision is made, it can be acted on quickly”.

It should be noted that, in April, the Vice President of the Organization, Rodolfo Acerbi and Ximena Melón traveled to Mexico to a meeting of the Permanent Group of Experts on Avian Influenza with the objective of evaluating the different tools to fight against this diseasewhere the possibility of vaccination, its impact on trade and strategies for epidemiological surveillance were studied in depth.

In the coming days, a Senasa delegation will be present at a new OMSA international summit, to be able to discuss strategies for virus control in Argentina and talk about the sanitary conditions of the country’s trading partners with the premise of support exports of poultry products.