16 November 2005 China vaccinates poultry to stem bird flu spread
Travellers hoping to visit parts of Asia and the Pacific are to be reassured with the news that China is to vaccinate all its estimated 14 billion poultry in an attempt to contain the spread of bird flu.
Although there have been no confirmed human infections from bird flu in China, the H5N1 strain has killed more than 60 people in south-east Asia since 2003 and new outbreaks of the disease in poultry have been confirmed in several regions of China in the past month.
State chief veterinarian Jia Youling said: "China is trying to vaccinate all poultry nationwide. The fees will be covered by the government."
To meet the demand health authorities are producing more than 100 million doses of bird flu vaccine a day, according to the ministry of agriculture, although some areas are still experiencing shortages.
China's 14 billion farm poultry accounts for nearly 21 per cent of the world's total.
The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations has warned that choosing vaccination as a control strategy is not an easy option, as its requires a large infrastructure that some companies may not be able to afford, and that without the appropriate methods it is difficult to tell the difference between infected and vaccinated poultry. 
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