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USDA researching animal vaccines but faces export barriers

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Migratory birds pose ongoing risk to poultry industry

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Egg prices jump after bird flu infects chicken flocks

By Leah Douglas and Tom Polansek

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Sept 27 (Reuters) - U.S. farmers are

increasing pressure on the Biden administration to allow

vaccinations for chickens, turkeys and cows to protect them from

bird flu infections that have devastated flocks for three years.

This autumn, flocks in the $67 billion U.S. poultry industry

for the first time face a double risk for infections from

dairies and migrating birds that can spread the disease.

Bird flu, which is lethal for poultry and reduces milk output in

dairy cows, has eliminated more than 100 million chickens and

turkeys since 2022 in the biggest U.S. outbreak ever.

Rose Acre Farms, the second-biggest U.S. egg producer,

wants the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow vaccinations,

CEO Marcus Rust told Reuters. The company lost millions of hens

in outbreaks and is relocating an Indiana facility for breeding

chickens because it sits across a highway from a wildlife refuge

that attracts migratory ducks, he said.

"We're farmers. We want our animals to live," Rust said.

The virus' jump to cattle in 14 states and infections of 13

dairy and poultry farm workers this year have concerned

scientists and federal officials about the risks to humans from

further spread.

The nation's leading egg, turkey and dairy groups argued in

an August letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that the

economic toll of the outbreak justifies deploying a vaccine. And

federal lawmakers say USDA should accelerate its vaccine

research and develop new methods to help farmers avoid

outbreaks.

"It is obvious that the current outbreak has no end in

sight," a dozen members of Congress, led by Representatives

Randy Feenstra, a Republican, and Democrat Jim Costa, said in

another August letter to Vilsack.

A USDA spokesperson said the agency has been collaborating

with state and federal agencies and researchers to protect

livestock, farmers and farm workers and is researching animal

vaccinations.

However, Vilsack said in a previously unreported March

letter to members of Congress that a vaccine campaign would face

challenges including potential barriers to exports. Many

countries ban imports of vaccinated poultry because of concerns

that the vaccine could mask the presence of the virus.

"Widespread vaccination of commercial poultry is not

possible in the short term," Vilsack wrote in the letter, which

the animal welfare group Farm Forward obtained through a public

records request and shared with Reuters.

'REASON TO HAVE HOPE'

A growing number of countries are considering once-taboo

vaccines. France last year began vaccinating ducks for bird flu.

New Zealand, which has never had a case of bird flu, is testing

a vaccine on five species of wild birds.

The U.S. approved emergency use of bird flu vaccine to

protect California condors last year.

"The only use of a vaccine in the U.S. is in this particular

case due to the endangered status of that wild bird," said

Julianna Lenoch, a USDA wildlife disease expert. The U.S.

vaccinated 94 condors and saw deaths from bird flu stop, she

said on a Thursday webinar.

Bird flu eliminated 17 million egg-laying hens from April

through July, according to USDA data. By August, retail egg

prices eclipsed $3.20 per dozen and reached a 16-month high,

federal data show.

The egg industry will need to increase supply to reduce

prices and the migratory period creates uncertainty, said Brian

Moscogiuri, a vice president for Eggs Unlimited.

The migration season for wild birds is underway and will

last until December, with waterfowl flying south from northern

states like Minnesota, experts said. Blue-winged Teal ducks can

travel all the way to South America, said Andy Ramey, research

scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey.

Brazil, the world's top chicken exporter, could see more

cases in wild birds due to migrations, its poultry association

said.

Migratory birds can carry the virus without dying and

transmit it to poultry. However, it appears fewer wild birds are

becoming infected, probably because they are building immunity,

Ramey said.

"There is reason to have hope," he said.