With the vaccine, it is hoped to stop the powerful virus from sweeping across farms. When an outbreak is discovered, it is not only the affected farm’s birds that must be slaughtered, but also neighboring farms. This means long interruptions in production and entails large losses for the farmers.
The country’s poultry population has been hit by the virus in several rounds in recent years, following a wave of infections between 2015 and 2017. Since 2020, outbreaks have occurred almost constantly, resulting in mass slaughter, but currently the situation is calm.
Vets expect 60 million ducks to be vaccinated by next summer.