Avian flu vaccines: France chooses a German laboratory

Faced with avian flu, France has chosen a German laboratory, Boehringer Ingelheim, to provide it with up to 80 million doses to vaccinate ducks in the fall. The vaccination campaign, eagerly awaited by breeders, should start in October, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, for a period of six months. Each duck will receive two doses. The avian influenza virus epizootic, which rages in America, Europe and Asia, has led to the euthanasia of tens of millions of poultry in France in recent years.

To combat this highly pathogenic virus, "vaccination of the most receptive and susceptible poultry aims to reduce viral excretion to slow down transmission, but also to reduce the statistical risk of virus mutation, limit the number of people exposed and thus controlling the risk to human health”, recently underlined the Committee for monitoring and anticipating health risks (Covars) in an opinion.

For this, the government published in mid-April a call for tenders "for an initial order" of up to 80 million doses of vaccines authorized for the species "mulard duck" (raised for foie gras) and "canard de Barbary”, explains the Ministry of Agriculture. Three laboratories responded: the German Boehringer Ingelheim, the French Ceva animal health, and the veterinary laboratory Zoetis France, a subsidiary of the American Zoetis. Zoetis' application was "deemed inadmissible" because its vaccine is only authorized for the Pekin duck species, which is not targeted by the call for tenders, the ministry argues.

The administration also indicates that it favored the candidacy of Boehringer Ingelheim because the latter makes it possible to meet all the needs, by vaccinating both mule ducks and Muscovy ducks. If the decision to vaccinate all year round is taken, a new call for tenders will be launched, for an additional order of vaccines, adds the ministry. The level of risk of avian flu has just been lowered in France, passing Wednesday from “moderate” to “negligible”. Avian flu has not completely disappeared from France, however: some 17,500 turkeys were slaughtered in early July after an outbreak was declared on a farm in Airon-Notre-Dame, in Pas-de-Calais.