Finland plans to offer preventative bird flu vaccinations as early as next week to some workers exposed to animals, health authorities said on Tuesday, becoming the first country in the world to do so.
The Nordic country purchased vaccines for 10,000 people, each consisting of two shots, as part of a joint EU procurement of up to 40 million doses for 15 nations from manufacturer CSL Seqirus (CSL.AX)., opens a new tab.
The Australian company, in a statement to Reuters, said Finland would be the first country to launch the vaccine.
The Finnish Institute of Health (THL) will offer bird flu vaccines to people aged 18 and over who are at risk due to work or other circumstances.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed or caused the slaughter of hundreds of millions of poultry around the world in recent years and has increasingly spread to mammals, including cows in the United States, and in some cases also to humans. .
Furthermore, Finland has not detected the virus in humans, THL said.
However, the country is eager to implement vaccinations, given the transmission risks posed by its fur farms.
“Conditions in Finland are very different as we have fur farms where animals can end up in contact with wildlife,” chief medical officer Hanna Nohynek of the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) told Reuters. ).
Bird flu outbreak on Finnish farms prompts vaccination
Widespread outbreaks of bird flu among minks and foxes on Finland's free-range fur farms have led to culling. Last year, around 485,000 animals were used to prevent the virus from spreading among animals and also among humans.
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Vaccinations will likely begin as early as next week in at least some parts of Finland, a THL spokesperson told Reuters.
Finland buys vaccines for at-risk groups, including fur and poultry farm workers, laboratory technicians and veterinarians. People at bird sanctuaries, farms and animal by-product plants will receive vaccines, according to THL.
He added that if a human bird flu infection occurs, they will also offer the vaccine to close contacts of a suspected or confirmed case.
Source: Essi Lehto and Louise Rasmussen | Notícias Agrícolas
