Press Releases
Hong Kong, Mainland seal pact on vaccination of chickens against H5 avian flu
The Government announced today (July 18) that agreement has been reached with the Mainland authorities on the vaccination of chickens for export to Hong Kong, to ensure that the same level of protection applies to both imported and locally produced chickens.
The agreement on vaccination follows a series of exchanges with export control counterparts and other relevant parties in the Mainland over the efficacy, safety and quality of the Mainland- approved H5N2 vaccine, a spokesman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said.
"As in previous practice, every consignment of Mainland birds for supply to Hong Kong must come from an appropriately registered farm and be accompanied by a health certificate issued by the Inspection and Quarantine Bureau (CIQ) concerned.
"Under the new import control programme, the health certificate should state, among other things, that birds in the consignment have been vaccinated with an approved H5 avian influenza vaccine and have been subjected to testing to show that the birds have satisfactory antibody responses.
"When the birds arrive at our border, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department will inspect the birds and verify the content of the accompanying health certificates," the spokesman said.
As for the monitoring the immune status of imported Mainland birds, the spokesman said samples would be collected randomly to test for the H5 antibody.
"If any farm is repeatedly found to supply birds with unsatisfactory antibody responses, the relevant CIQ will be asked to suspend exports from that farm and to investigate the causes of the problem.
"However, it should be noted that vaccination is by no means the panacea for managing our avian influenza problem. As the H5 avian influenza virus has become endemic in the region, the risk of H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in chickens will remain as long as the trade exists.
"Therefore, it is prudent that we maintain our existing multi-pronged approach so as to minimise the risk of recurrences of avian influenza outbreaks among our food birds.
"These will include continued efforts to upgrade our farms' biosecurity to best sanitary standards in order to prevent the introduction of the virus to farms; further improvements in the hygiene conditions of markets to guard against the virus being harboured there; and continued implementation of at least two rest days per month at retail outlets to help break any viral cycles," the spokesman said.
The Mainland is understood to have begun making arrangements for vaccinating live birds destined for the Hong Kong market. It is expected that such birds will be on the local market before the end of this year.
"The need for continuing vaccination of birds on sale here will be closely monitored," the spokesman said.
End/Friday, July 18, 2003
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