FG insists no vaccination as flu kills 3.4 million birds

FG insists no vaccination as flu kills 3.4 million birds

A total of 3.4 million birds have perished within six years due to persistent outbreaks of Avian Influenza otherwise called bird flu.

Despite the repeated occurrence of bird flu, the Federal Government says Nigeria will stick to its ‘no vaccination’ policy approach to tackling Avian Influenza.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mahmood Abubakar, said this at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.

Farmers had called on the government to change the policy following the continued outbreak of bird flu that led to the collapse of many farms in the country.
Since 2017, Nigeria has reportedly recorded 476 bird flu outbreaks with about 3.4 million birds lost.
The minister said the decision was taken after due consideration of scientific and socio-economic evidences available to the ministerial committee on merits and demerits of vaccination along with the best global practices.

The minister said the committee recommended the ‘no vaccination’ policy for now.

Director, Veterinary and Pest Control Services at the ministry, Columba Vakuru, said the no vaccination policy would save the country money that would be used to import vaccine.

He said, “We’ll also have demonstrated that we’re capable of regulating our poultry industry to the level that we’ll take stringent measures.

“The vaccine is not going to come free. Unfortunately for us, we’ve not started producing the vaccine within the country.”

FG insists no vaccination as flu kills 3.4 million birds