The first phase of the bird flu vaccination process, which began last Friday, March 3, continues and this Wednesday ends the sixth day in the surrounding areas where outbreaks of the virus were recorded from November 2022 to February last year. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), Ecuador is the first South American country to begin the process of vaccination against the virus.

In this first phase, the Agency for Phytosanitary and Zoosanitary Regulation and Control (Agrocalidad) indicated that it plans to vaccinate around 757,818 birds. Until this Wednesday, March 8, according to Marisol Molina, executive director of the Egg Producers Union (Uniproh), progress was made with the vaccination of almost 400,000 birds, although she clarified that she did not have a detailed figure.

At the Pichincha poultry farm, the vaccination route against avian influenza has started

Uniproh is part of the Technical Subcommittee of the National Poultry Commission, in charge of coordinating actions against avian influenza, which affected 1,193,491 poultry on farms in five provinces of the Sierra region, most of which are involved in egg production, from November 2022 to February last year. .

According to Agrocalidad, the infected birds correspond to 15 outbreaks of the virus registered in 20 farms: 9 in Cotopaxi, 7 in Tungurahua, 2 in Bolívar and Pichincha and Azuay with one farm in each province.

Meanwhile, the vaccination process is not exempt from problems with some producers who, according to the Agency, did not respect biosecurity measures. A specific case occurred on a farm located in the parish of San Buenaventura in the city of Latacunga that tested positive for bird flu on December 15, 2022, for which the birds were euthanized and quarantined.

However, the property owner disregarded the quarantine period and repopulated his farm with 3,000 new birds in the last week of last February, violating biosecurity protocols.

In view of the above, the Agency has initiated an administrative procedure for violation of measures to protect animal health and reporting the slaughter of these birds. “However, there was no possibility for the owner to carry out the measure, they even intimidated the officials of Agrocalidad, the State Attorney’s Office and the National Police”, the Agency reported in a press release dated March 6 last year.

In this regard, Molina admitted that this action, by not completing the disinfection process and introducing new birds, endangers poultry farming in the country due to possible new infections.

“They had to carry out a complete process of disinfecting the stables in order to reintroduce the birds. We know that they have not finished the whole process and that the birds have already entered, that it is most likely that there is still a virus in these facilities and that the birds are infected again, which represents a source of infection and a risk for the poultry that is in the vicinity,” said Molina, who assured that the farm is not part of Uniproh.

The cost of the vaccine, 1,000 doses for $62.20, is borne by the manufacturers

In the meantime, Molina confirmed that the costs of the vaccine are fully borne by the manufacturers who have shown openness to the process, especially for the protection of production. According to the presenter, a vial with 1000 doses of the vaccine costs $62.20.

The first 4 million doses arrived in the country in mid-February, imported by the Ecuadorian-Mexican business alliance Macuna-Avimexy. According to the value stated by the executive director of Uniproh, the price of those first doses was 248,800 dollars.

In addition, MAG announced at the beginning of the vaccination process that the import of an additional 10 million doses had already been approved.

Meanwhile, the poultry sector and egg producers expect the vaccination radius to expand to more farms.

Poultry sector achieves vaccination against bird flu with lower production and consumption of eggs, but with an increase in chicken meat

“We hope that the vaccination radius will expand because there is still nervousness among producers. Influenza is an aggressive disease that has caused the slaughter or death of 1,200,000 birds so far,” said the spokesperson of Uniproh, who asked poultry farmers for enhanced biosecurity measures.

“Even though the vaccine is already in the country and being administered, it doesn’t work by itself, it works hand-in-hand with well-implemented biosecurity in poultry,” Molina said.