In the context of the bird flu roadmap, Minister Schouten of LNV, together with the parties involved, has been paying attention for some time to the options for preventive vaccination against bird flu, as part of the total range of instruments available. An inventory is currently being made, together with the poultry sector and the Animal Protection Agency, of the preconditions that vaccines must meet. The minister wrote this to the House of Representatives.
Schouten is also committed to exploring the possibilities of vaccination against bird flu within the European Union. The European Commission is investigating what adjustments and simplifications in regulations are possible to promote vaccination once a vaccine is available. The European Food Safety Authority EFSA has been asked to carry out an inventory of active and available vaccines against bird flu. The EFSA report is expected to be published in mid-2022.
The minister is also working on enabling a trial with vaccines that experts suspect may be effective against the bird flu viruses that have been circulating in the Netherlands in recent years. There is contact with a number of parties involved about this and the possibilities for cooperation are being explored, writes Schouten.
Researchers from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Wageningen Bioveterinary Research are in consultation to conduct a vaccine trial to test a vaccine against the spread of the H5N1 virus. Such a test is carried out under controlled conditions. The vaccine trial also needs approval from the Central Animal Testing Committee. The Netherlands and France are also looking at other options for a trial with a vaccine against bird flu.
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