Vaccination is reshaping the avian influenza crisis
Report indicates vaccination should be considered as a complementary tool to curb avian influenza
29 July 2025
2 minute read
By: Editor's note: The following is an excerpt of a report by the World Organization for Animal Health: The State of the World’s Animal Health 20251.
Beyond the devastating loss of poultry, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is causing unprecedented mass die-offs in wild-bird populations, disrupting ecosystems and threatening biodiversity. Seabirds, raptors and waterfowl have suffered catastrophic losses, with entire breeding colonies wiped out. The virus has also infected marine mammals, scavengers and even livestock, raising concerns about its potential adaptation to new hosts.
Though the risk of human infection remains low, the more mammalian species that are affected, the greater the possibility of the virus adapting to mammal-to-mammal, and potentially human, transmission. The decline or loss of species disrupts ecological dynamics, including trophic interactions, biodiversity services, migration patterns and food chains. As integral components of ecosystem stability, the loss of biodiversity causes cascading effects that compromise environmental resilience and global wildlife conservation.
HPAI is more than an animal health crisis: it is a global emergency destabilizing agriculture, food security, trade and ecosystems. Addressing its impact requires an urgent, multifaceted solution to protect economies, livelihoods and biodiversity, while strengthening resilience against future outbreaks.
HPAI vaccination
Vaccination against HPAI is increasingly being considered as a complementary tool in disease management due to the global rise in outbreaks and the growing genetic diversity of circulating virus strains. Traditional sanitary control measures, such as mass culling, have proven costly, both economically and socially, raising concerns about their long-term sustainability. While biosecurity, surveillance, and movement controls remain essential, vaccination can complement these efforts by reducing virus circulation within and between flocks, minimizing economic losses, and lowering the risk of spillover to wildlife and humans.
When properly implemented, vaccination aligns with international trade standards, ensuring that poultry products remain marketable. Encouraging the development of effective vaccines also drives innovation in disease prevention, reinforcing an anticipatory rather than reactive approach to managing HPAI.
According to Julian Madeley, Director General of the World Egg Organization, “When used in conjunction with biosecurity and surveillance, vaccination could be a very useful tool to control the spread of HPAI in laying hens. Newcastle disease serves as an example,” he explained, “Once we had effective vaccination strategies, it became a manageable problem. Outbreaks still occur, but they no longer devastate the industry as they once did. We believe the same can happen with HPAI if vaccination is widely adopted alongside robust surveillance measures.”
Many countries have already rolled out successful vaccination campaigns, including China, the world’s largest egg producer, France, Guatemala, Kazakhstan and Peru. And, as more countries adopt vaccination against HPAI, it is crucial that both vaccination and surveillance are carried out to a high standard.
“Moving forward, it’s all about communication and collaboration,” Madeley added. “We need to continue advocating for vaccination as an additional tool, complemented by biosecurity and surveillance. And we must ensure that best practice tools are made available to farms so that they can carry out these measures effectively.”
Reference
1World Organization for Animal Health (2025). – The State of the World’s Animal Health 2025. Paris, 120pp. https://doi.org/10.20506/woah..... License: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
