ASB 100: Introduction to Global Health - One Health
ASB 100: Introduction to Global Health
· Title: Bird Flu Alarm Drives World Towards Once-Shunned Vaccines
· News Source: Reuters
· Bias Rating: Least Biased
· Factual Reporting: Very High
· MBFC Credibility Rating: High Credibility
There is a food crisis here in the U.S. and around the world. The bird flu, or Avian Influenza, doesn’t help this crisis. The prices of eggs are going up due to more than 200 million deaths in birds. This could also contribute to a future meat shortage in chicken and turkey if the death toll keeps rising. However, there are governments who are against the vaccine for the avian flu but with this possibly becoming an endemic (fear of it becoming that way) they are looking to change their minds on the idea of vaccines in general. Diseases mutate and they can mutate faster than we can create a viable vaccine which can be scary, but the scariest part is the possibility of a disease spreading from animal to human.
Let’s now dive into the vaccine for birds or for animals in general but more specifically, livestock. There are countries that have specifically banned specific vaccines for animals and because of this, farmers are scared to vaccinate their chickens or turkeys, etc. The countries will not accept imports from other countries and their farmers which will make the farmer and the country lose a great deal of income. Mexico implemented an emergency vaccine for birds, Ecuador planned to immunize more than 2 million birds, France is looking to start vaccinating their poultry in September of 2023, the EU agreed to implement a strategy for vaccinating poultry and other livestock birds, Brussels already implemented vaccines for poultry, China has been vaccinating their poultry for about 20 years, and the United States has no forward outlook on vaccinating poultry or other livestock birds as of yet. There are not a lot of countries implementing vaccines for poultry which can cause possible harm to trade with countries who are vaccinating their poultry.
France had to compensate their poultry farmers for their losses which cost France 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion in U.S. dollars). This is part of the reason why France is finally going to implement vaccines for poultry. Not only is trading a loss between countries who are and are not vaccinating poultry but also the country itself is losing money by not vaccinating the poultry due to significant deaths and compensations to poultry farmers. However, Netherlands, Italy, and Hungary are conducting research studies with vaccines in poultry and turkeys. Frances and Germany have so far found very promising results with their development of the bird flu vaccine.
· Pull Quote: “This is a huge economic loss. We won’t avoid occasional introductions (of the virus) via wildlife or via a contaminated environment, but what we want to avoid is these occasional introductions spreading throughout the country.” – Gilles Salvat, deputy director of the research division at French health security agency ANSES. ( De La Hamaide, Sybille. 2023, February 17. Bird Flu Alarm Drives World Towards Once-Shunned Vaccines. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/bird-flu-alarm-drives-world-towards-once-shunned-vaccines-2023-02-17/ )
· Relation to One Health: Wildlife, Environmental, and Human Health. (Explanation in the three paragraphs above)
Resource
· De La Hamaide, Sybille. 2023, February 17. Bird Flu Alarm Drives World Towards Once-Shunned Vaccines. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/bird-flu-alarm-drives-world-towards-once-shunned-vaccines-2023-02-17/
· Media Bias Fact Check. 2022. February 25. Reuters. Retrieved from https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/reuters/
