According to Mahmood Abubakar, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Avian Influenza, also known as bird flu, has killed approximately 3.4 million birds across the country and is currently spreading in various poultry across the country.
Despite widespread bird flu attacks across the country, the Ministry has stated that it will pursue a “no vaccination” policy in combating the disease.
Abubakar stated this during a press conference in Abuja. He explained that the “no vaccination” decision was made after careful consideration of scientific and socioeconomic data.
He stated that the ministerial committee had access to evidence on the benefits and drawbacks of vaccination versus no vaccination and that the decision was based on best global practices as well as World Organization for Animal Health recommendations.
The committee recommended that the country should stick to the ‘No Vaccination’ policy for now. The committee noted that the country might want to change the policy to vaccinate against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in future, but recommended some activities to be carried out before considering the option of vaccination against HPAI as a policy for the country.
So the status-quo on vaccination policy against HPAI in Nigeria thus remains and as such, ‘No vaccination’ against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza’ in Nigeria for now, Abubakar stated.
Columba Vakuru, Director, Veterinary and Pest Control Services at the Agriculture Ministry, highlighted some of the disadvantages of vaccination, noting that if vaccination is not properly regulated, the country may become confused.
He did, however, state that from 2017 to the present, Nigeria had experienced 476 outbreaks, with approximately 3.4 million birds lost as a result of the outbreak.
Indirectly, we have been having pressure to go into vaccination, one of the disadvantages is that if you are not properly regulated, if you don’t know the exit route and jump into it, you are jumping into confusion.
We have seen that in some countries that went into vaccination during the outbreak in Africa and Asia, they are still battling with the disease, he stated.
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