The new HPAI vaccination policy is expected to save the poultry industry billions of rands in potential losses by allowing vaccination under tightly controlled conditions.
However, vaccination is only one part of the strategy, with surveillance, traceability, and biosecurity expected to play equally important roles in demonstrating disease freedom and maintaining confidence in poultry products, according to Dr Izaak Breitenbach, CEO of the South African Poultry Association’s Broiler Organisation.
He told Farmer’s Weekly that routine surveillance for HPAI is already conducted across the industry, but vaccination will introduce additional monitoring obligations.
“We do many tests. We do six-monthly routine tests for HPAI. The moment we suspect HPAI, then naturally many more tests are done,” he told Farmer’s Weekly.
He added that while vaccination is expected to reduce infection, mortality, and production losses, producers who opt to vaccinate could face significantly more intensive testing requirements than those currently in place.
“There is a whole protocol. It means the chickens would have to be tested for bird flu every month should we vaccinate. Then, at the end of laying, they must be tested again. There’s a whole series that we would have to do.”
Breitenbach said the industry is engaging with government over the cost of the proposed monitoring requirements.
“We are in discussion with government that the protocol be made more practically implementable and cheaper for farmers, because we have to pay for it. The current costs for the monitoring are too high. We would like them to be lowered without giving up anything in terms of the effectiveness of the monitoring.”
Asked whether the cost of surveillance was outweighed by the billions of rands in losses the industry could face from HPAI-related culling, he said this is indeed the case.
“It is definitely cheaper to pay for monitoring than to get the sickness,” he said.
Vaccination gains international support
Prof Celia Abolnik, professor of avian diseases at the University of Pretoria (UP), said HPAI vaccination is increasingly being accepted internationally as governments and industries adapt to a virus that is unlikely to disappear.
“The key concern for South Africa is the clade 2.3.4.4b H5 HPAI viruses that are endemic in Europe, the feeder zone from which wild migratory birds annually transmit the virus to Africa.”
She noted that highly effective H5 vaccines are available internationally and can play an important role in limiting the impact of outbreaks.
“A good vaccine and vaccination programme against HPAI, which attains and maintains a high level of protective antibodies in the flock, will lower the chances of infection, reduce mortality, limit losses, and prevent onward transmission,” Abolnik explained.
Surveillance key to vaccination success
Despite the benefits of vaccination, Abolnik stressed that it cannot replace active disease monitoring.
“Knowing which [HPAI] strains are present in the local wild bird [population] or the national poultry flock requires an active, well-funded, and properly coordinated surveillance programme.”
She added that the purpose of surveillance extends beyond merely detecting disease outbreaks.
“It is equally important that any viruses detected be fully sequenced and that this information is shared, to allow the genetic evolution of field strains to be effectively monitored and decisions to be made about whether vaccines need to be replaced.”
According to her, South Africa’s veterinary laboratories already possess the diagnostic capability to detect HPAI infections at very low levels.
However, she emphasised that identifying the virus is only the first step.
“In the event that a is detected, it will be important to be able to genetically sequence that virus to properly identify and monitor it.”
Strengthening laboratory capacity
Abolnik also said that South Africa’s laboratory infrastructure must be adequately resourced if the country’s vaccination and surveillance strategies are to succeed in the long term.
“The Agricultural Research Council’s national reference laboratory for avian influenza needs to be strengthened with funding, infrastructure, expertise, and leadership so that it can better fulfil its mandate,” she emphasised.
Abolnik also expressed confidence in South Africa’s new approach to HPAI control and indicated that scientific institutions like UP will remain closely involved in its implementation, together with government and the poultry industry.
