Bird Flu Kills 3.4 Million Birds, FG Shuns Vaccination

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mahmood Abubakar has said that Avian Influenza popularly known as bird flu has killed about 3.4 million birds across the country and is currently spreading in various poultries nationwide.

The Ministry, however, stated that it would adopt the “no vaccination” policy in tackling the disease, despite the widespread attacks of bird flu nationwide.

Abubakar stated this at a briefing in Abuja. He explained that the “no vaccination” decision came after due consideration of scientific and socio-economic evidence.

He said the pieces of evidence were available to the ministerial committee on the merits and demerits of vaccination or no vaccination, adding that the decision was based on best global practices as well as the recommendations of the World Organisation for Animal Health.

“The committee recommended that the country should stick to the ‘No Vaccination’ policy for now. The committee noted that the country might want to change the policy to vaccinate against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in future, but recommended some activities to be carried out before considering the option of vaccination against HPAI as a policy for the country.

“So the status-quo on vaccination policy against HPAI in Nigeria thus remains and as such, ‘No vaccination’ against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza’ in Nigeria for now,” Abubakar stated.

The Director, Veterinary and Pest Control Services at the agric ministry, Columba Vakuru, highlighted some of the disadvantages of vaccination, as he noted that if not properly regulated, the country might get confused when carrying out vaccination.

He, however, stated that from 2017 till date, Nigeria had witnessed 476 outbreaks, with about 3.4 million birds lost as a result of the outbreak

“Indirectly, we have been having pressure to go into vaccination, one of the disadvantages is that if you are not properly regulated, if you don’t know the exit route and jump into it, you are jumping into confusion.

“We have seen that in some countries that went into vaccination during the outbreak in Africa and Asia, they are still battling with the disease,” he stated.