Bird flu vaccine gets conditional license from USDA as egg prices spike

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- A vaccine could help stop the spread of bird flu in poultry after millions of birds have died from the virus in the past few years.

In the past three years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says about 150 million birds died across the country due to the virus.

This month, the USDA granted a conditional license to Zoetis for its Avian Influenza Vaccine.

"It shows promise. We hope that it works, in my hope, and I'm sure many others can use that to stop this disease from continuing to spread across the state and at this point even across the nation," said Tulare County Ag Commissioner Tom Tucker.

Tucker says stopping the spread of bird flu could mean a future drop in egg prices as they have recently nearly doubled nationwide.

Keeping birds immune to the virus would be a positive sign for poultry farmers.

"Because it's just devastating to those who raise birds or for food, they're losing their entire population," said Tucker.

Dr. Crystal Heath from Our Honor says other countries like France, China, Egypt, and Mexico have already vaccinated their birds for avian influenza.

However, Dr. Heath worries we may lose export markets because many countries do not accept imports from those currently vaccinating.

She adds that a mutating virus means a vaccine might not work for long.

"So, we continually have to change the vaccine and adapt, as the virus continues, to mutate which highlights we're kind of in this ever-escalating arms race against these pathogens," said Dr. Heath.

"Without addressing our dependence on modern intensive animal protein production facilities in which we have thousands of genetically similar, highly stressed animals, we continue to create the conditions that facilitate virus evolution."

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