In the US, the vaccination of poultry is likely to focus on egg -laying chickens, as opposed to broilers raised for meat. During the current outbreak, more than 77 percent of the affected domestic poultry were commercial egg files. In a USDA press release, Rollins said the agency was considering a ‘targeted and thoughtful strategy’ for vaccination.

But the broiler chicken industry is concerned that even the vaccination of the vaccination of the laying of chickens would harm the US, which is the second largest exporter of poultry meat. Ashley Peterson, senior vice president of scientific and regulatory issues at the National Chicken Board, says other countries are likely to ban all US poultry products, even if the US is only vaccination of chickens. “If you move to a vaccine, you essentially say that the virus is endemic, and that’s how we’re going to handle it,” she says. “We prefer not to handle the virus. We prefer to eliminate it completely. “

The organization supports the current USDA policy to write out infected herds, as well as to increase biosecurity on farms -benchmarks such as quarantine animals, wearing protective clothing in poultry houses, defiles shoes before cleaning animals, and cleaning farming equipment.

But Carol Cardona, a professor of bird health at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, says biosecurity is unlikely to eliminate bird flu. “Farmers are so tired of hearing biosecurity because they do everything they can do,” she says. “Without more information on how the birds become infected, it is very difficult to target biosecurity correctly.”

The virus can be worn in and out of poultry sheds on shoes, clothing and equipment that move in and out of poultry sheds. Mice, rats and other small mammals can also carry the virus.

With the disease now so widespread, Cardona says, it will take more than one strategy to reduce outbreaks. “We fought this battle with one hand behind our backs, and I think there are other instruments,” she says. “We need to create new methods to keep it out, and part of it will involve that vaccination.”

Even if vaccination does not always prevent infection, Lorenzoni says it will still help reduce the amount of virus circulating in the environment, which will slow down the spread of the disease to more farms.

And trading disruption can be short. Rollins said the USDA will work with trading partners to limit the impact of carrying out trade markets from possible vaccination. Lorenzoni says there will be pressure from other markets to keep the international exchange of poultry viable. “It is in everyone’s best interest to move with these commercial agreements as quickly as possible,” he says.