Govt rules out vaccination of domestic fowl

Sun2Surf : KUALA LUMPUR: The government has ruled out the suggestion of vaccinating domestic fowl as a measure to prevent the spread of H5N1 bird-flu virus.
Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the ministry had consulted veterinary specialists and found that culling was still the best way of containing the spread of the disease.
He said some people may think the poultry industry would suffer heavy loses as a result of the culling, but noted that vaccination was no guarantee that the poultry would not contract the disease.
Asked whether the ministry would subsidise farmers who wish to vaccinate their poultry, Muhyiddin told reporters that since the ministry did not support vaccination, no subsidies would be given.
He also said although no new cases were reported by the Veterinary Research Institute, active surveillance was still being conducted in bird-flu hit states such as Perak and Penang.
"Surveillance has been conducted in Gombak for the past one month.
"No more new cases are reported there and the tests on birds also showed negative. The situation in the affected areas is improving," he said.
Asked about Singapore's ban on poultry from Selangor, now that Gombak is now free from bird-flu, Muhyiddin said the ministry has talked to the Singapore government, which promised that the republic would continue to import poultry from the state when the area was deemed safe.
"The Singapore government needs a one-month window period to see if the area is really safe. Then they will lift the ban.
"They are still importing our poultry from unaffected states like Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan," he added.
Meanwhile, in Putrajaya, Veterinary Services Department director-general Datuk Dr Mustapa Jalil said no laboratory reports have been received so far from the department in Negeri Sembilan about the three chickens found dead in a poultry farm in Lenggeng on Wednesday.