Reduction of Poultry Culling for 2 Weeks... "Difficulty in Using Vaccines" (Comprehensive)

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: "Concerns about human infection exist, and the US, Japan, and Europe also do not use it"
Reserved comments on the impact of reduced culling on egg prices

Director Park Byung-hong of the Food Industry Policy Office at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs briefing on the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) at poultry farms on the afternoon of the 8th at the Government Sejong Complex. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government will implement guidelines for the next two weeks to reduce poultry culling while focusing on reducing the virus around farms to prevent the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI). It reiterated its existing stance that using vaccines is difficult due to concerns such as human infection.

The AI Central Accident Response Headquarters announced these quarantine measures on the 15th. The measures will be implemented for the next two weeks. The core principle is to reduce poultry culling while controlling the surrounding virus.

The Central Response Headquarters will reduce the scope of preventive culling for the next two weeks and will reassess the risk level to decide whether to extend the measures. Starting today, in the event of highly pathogenic AI outbreaks at poultry farms, the culling radius will be reduced from within 3 km of the farm to within 1 km for two weeks.

First, 1,100 disinfection vehicles will be mobilized to disinfect farm surroundings and access roads daily. The poultry testing system will be changed from rapid tests to detailed tests.

For laying hens, breeding chickens, and quail, testing will change from monthly rapid tests to detailed tests every two weeks. For broilers and native chickens, testing before shipment will switch from rapid tests to detailed tests.

From the end of this month to early next month, additional detailed inspections will be conducted at egg-producing poultry farms. This week, a mass inspection of meat ducks is planned. While reducing the number of poultry culled, the intensity of measures will be increased.

Regarding directly vaccinating poultry to reduce culling, the government expressed difficulty. It explained that frequent virus mutations make it hard to develop timely and appropriate vaccines, and the efficacy is limited.

Park Byunghong, Director of the Food Industry Policy Office at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, explained, "According to experts, there are opinions that vaccination could cause mutations leading to concerns about human infection."

He added, "Some countries like China, Vietnam, and Indonesia use vaccines, but the United States, Japan, and Europe do not use vaccines like our country."

He refrained from commenting on the impact of the reduced culling measures on egg prices.

Director Park mentioned, "How AI occurs in poultry farms in the future could be a variable, but since the scope of culling has been reduced, it is judged that culling itself will decrease going forward."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.