Assistant Professor at Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Rebanta Kumar Bhattarai, said such vaccination drive can only help in management of epidemics rather than prevent them. "Culling chickens during bird flu outbreak is the best way to control the epidemic rather than vaccinating the chickens," Bhattarai, who is also the general secretary of Poultry Entrepreneurs Forum, said. He further added that 30 out of 35 outbreaks of bird flu in the world since 1959 were taken into control by culling chickens. "Five outbreaks were controlled through vaccination. But it was not as effective as culling," he added.
Bhattarai further added that the country needs to put in place appropriate management, regular survey and monitoring as well as highly sophisticated lab for vaccination," he said, adding, 'Using imported vaccines in the country, which does not have proper monitoring and supervision capacity, might be dangerous.' He also said the poultry business will be destroyed if the wrong and low-quality vaccines are used.
Director General of Department of Livestock Services (DoLS), Keshab Prasad Premi, said the government has been discussing poultry vaccination plan with stakeholders for the past two years. 'Some say vaccination is needed, others vehemently oppose it,' he said, adding, 'We are yet to take any decision on the issue.'
According to Premi, most of the participants of consultation meetings have raised concerns on the impact of haphazard use of such vaccines and lack of effective mechanism for ensuring quality and monitoring.
IP Dhakal, Dean of Animal Science Department at Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, however, opined that vaccination was important to save poultry from any epidemic. "We can have ample discussions on ways to manage such vaccination drive. However, it is not good to blindly oppose the drive," he added. He also said such vaccination can be started from small hatcheries before trying it at large-scale farms.
Director General Premi said they will take decision on the issue after studying pros and cons of vaccination.
Shivaram KC, chairman of Nepal Egg Producers Association, said vaccination alone cannot save chickens from the epidemic. "The vaccination drive will only serve the interest of the vaccination producer. We should explore other measures to protect poultry from the epidemic," he added.
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