Vaccination Strategy Against HPAI (H 5 N 1 ) in Egypt by Ehab El Masry General Organization for Veterinary Services (GOVS) Tel: Arab Republic of Egypt Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation General Organization for Veterinary Services (GOVS) Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008

Introduction Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008  On 17 February 2006, Egypt confirmed the first cases of HPAI H5N1 virus in domestic poultry.  With the progressive unexpected increase in the number and distribution of HPAI outbreaks in poultry, the Government of Egypt (GOE) decided in March 2006 to approve the vaccination of poultry against HPAI.

Regulations for the importation of AI vaccines in Egypt  The GOE decided to allow the importation of AI vaccines (without registration) for the following reasons:  Lack of contingency stockpile of AI vaccines.  No AI vaccines were registered in Egypt at that time.  Relatively long period required for registration of vaccines.  It ’ s stipulated that all the imported vaccines (every batch) had to be evaluated by the CLEVB (national laboratory for evaluation of biologicals) before release for marketing.  A grace period (ended on 25/1/2008) was allowed for importation of AI vaccines without registration. Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008

AI vaccines used in Egypt  Between 01/03/2006 and 27/11/ companies imported avian influenza vaccines from a total of 6 countries, Italy, Mexico, Indonesia, USA, The Netherlands and PR China.  The imports comprise H5N1, H5N2 and H5N9.  To date a total of some 1.5 billion doses of vaccine has been imported into Egypt.  The GOE Veterinary Serum and Vaccine Research Institute (VSVRI) is currently preparing for the mass production of an H5N2 vaccine.

Current GOE policy for vaccination against HPAI (H5N1) Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008  Vaccination of sector 4 poultry (backyards and balady hatcheries) free of charge.  Permit commercial companies to vaccinate with a registered vaccine of their choice.

Current GOE policy for vaccination of sector 4 poultry against HPAI (H5N1)  Vaccination of backyard poultry (all susceptible species) with H5N1 inactivated AI vaccine (free of charge).  Vaccination of day old chicks at the commercial balady hatcheries with H5N1 inactivated AI vaccine (free of charge).  In case of grants of HPAI vaccines (H5N2) it is only used for day-old-chicks at the commercial balady hatcheries. Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008

Progressive steps for implementation of vaccination programs in sector 4 Initial steps :  Preparation and distribution of SOPs for vaccination against HPAI.  Secure the required logistics for vaccine and vaccination (cold chain, automatic syringes, transport vehicles, PPEs ….etc).  Training of vaccination teams. Preparatory steps :  Importation of the selected AI vaccine.  Evaluation of each batch of the imported vaccine.  Distribution of AI vaccine to all governorates according to the production density. Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008

Progressive steps for implementation of vaccination programs in sector 4 (cont.) Executive steps :  Each veterinary directorate (27 directorates) have to send in advance the time schedule of the vaccination campaigns at village level for the abrupt monitoring and inspection teams from GOVS headquarter.  Vaccination of birds done from door to door.  Each house keeping vaccinated birds receives an official card attesting the date of vaccination and a mark put on the wall of the house.  During the vaccination of birds, the vaccinators grossly inspect the birds and notify the local veterinary authorities on any suspected cases for HPAI. Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008

Monitoring of vaccination and virus circulation  Monitoring of vaccination is implemented by NLQP (national poultry laboratory) through sero-surveillance.  RT PCR test is used as routine test for the virological surveillance against HPAI, so monitoring virus circulation in vaccinated and unvaccinated birds is in place. Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008

Achievements Three national vaccination campaigns were executed as follow :  From May 2006 till June 2007 (90.5 million birds vaccinated)  From June 2007 till December 2007 (113.6 million birds vaccinated)  From 15 th December 2007 till now (39.4 million birds vaccinated) Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008

Constraints, weakness and challenges to implementation  Absence of BSL3 lab in Egypt hinders the accurate evaluation of the vaccine(s) efficacy against the circulating strain(s) of AI H5N1 virus in Egypt (challenge test).  Scientific debate about the efficacy of vaccinating day old chicks.  Some owners depended on vaccination to prevent the infection and neglected the biosecurity measures.  Some owners of duck farms and duck hatcheries refuse to vaccinate their ducks (because ducks rarely shows clinical signs and production drop). Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008

Constraints, weakness and challenges to implementation (cont.)  Vaccination against HPAI at backyards (the target is 300 million birds per year) deplete the time and effort of the field veterinarians and this reflects on the efficacy of control activities of other transboundary animal diseases.  Difficult identification and monitoring of the vaccinated birds at backyards and hatcheries.  Lack of people awareness about the importance of vaccination and biosecurity measures.  Insufficient cold chain and transport facilities.

Support needed  From the government: Hiring veterinarians and para-veterinarians to compensate the shortage in the manpower. Change the concept that every vaccine dose and every collected sample should be done by a veterinarian, the new concept should legally enable the para-veterinarians to vaccinate birds and collect samples under the supervision of official veterinarians.  From donors and international organizations: Establishment of BSL3 laboratory in Egypt for the challenge test. Secure the required logistics for transport vehicles and cold chain. Financing awareness campaign through the media regarding the control of HPAI in poultry in general and particularly the vaccination and biosecurity measures. Donations of AI vaccines ;to be in compliance with OIE standards. Technical assistance to set up an exit strategy from the vaccination. Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008

Thank you Seminar on Vaccination Against Avian Influenza: Issues and Strategies Within the Context of an Overall Control Program, 19th March 2008