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First results of bird flu vaccine hopeful
Initial results from the pilot production of
H5N1 vaccines for combating bird flu in poultry are positive, said Truong Van
Dung, Director of the Vietnamese Animal Health Institute in
Hanoi.
At a meeting of the National Steering Committee to Control Bird Flu, Dung
said the Central Veterinary Medicine Company was experimentally producing
200,000 doses of vaccines.
The institute would also conduct studies
for vaccinating ducks and one-day-old white-winged ducks (ngan), he said,
pointing to the necessity of vaccinating small ducks for increasing their
immunity before raising on a large scale.
According to the Animal
Health Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
(MARD), 57 out of the 63 provinces and cities nation-wide, except for HCM City
where poultry raising has been banned, have inoculated local poultry as
planned.
The MARD Minister, Cao Duc Phat, however, voiced concerns
over the lax management of poultry slaughter, trade and transport in many
localities. Farmers in certain areas have raised water fowls despite the
ministry ordering a temporary ban, he said.
The MARD, meanwhile, has
successfully bred ducks in enclosed coops away from the water for providing safe
meat to consumers as a nation-wide ban on duck farming
continues.
Nguyen Dang Vang, head of the ministry's Animal Breeding
Department, said the new method was a closed cycle from hatching the eggs,
raising, slaughter, and supply.
The Government ban, to last until
February 28 next year, has resulted in illegal hatching and smuggling of ducks
into the country, he said.
To meet the consumer demand, the
department began a pilot programme last month to breed ducks at the Dai Xuyen
Duck Research Centre in Ha Tay Province west of Hanoi and Binh Duong Farm
Technology Centre in the south.
During the pilot project, to last 11
months, the Animal Breeding Research and Production Institute will supply ducks
bred using British strains.
Editor WorldPoultry
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