United States: Health authorities in Finland said on Tuesday the country aims to start providing bird flu preemptive vaccination for some workers with animal contact as soon as next week, becoming the first country in the world to do it.
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Its Nordic neighbour has procured doses for 10,000 people and each includes two injections, under the framework of the European Union agreement to purchase up to 40 million doses for 15 nations from CSL Seqirus.
The Australian company, in a statement to Reuters, said Finland would be the first country to roll out the vaccine.
According to the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), “The vaccine will be offered to those aged 18 or over who are at increased risk of contracting avian influenza due to their work or other circumstances,” as Reuters reported.
Fatality by the H5N1 strain
The H5N1 strain of bird flu that has been recently killing or causing the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry in recent years has been extending to mammals and recently infecting even the cows of America and, in some cases, humans also.
As of now, THL said that Finland has not identified the virus in humans.
Although the country is ready with the alertness of the risks posed by its fur farms concerning the transmission of coronavirus, it anxiously waits to begin the vaccination process.
The chief Physician Hanna Nohynek at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) stated, “The conditions in Finland are very different in that we have fur farms where the animals can end up in contact with wildlife,” as Reuters reported.
High incidences of bird flu affected mink and foxes in Finland’s majority of its commercial fur farms that are mostly enclosed only by netting: therefore, the Finnish authorities culled the animals during the previous year reaching up to approximate 485,000.
The vaccination campaigns are expected to begin as soon as next week in some regions of Finland, a THL official said to Reuters.
Finland stated that it vaccinated endangered individuals, the most vulnerable group of the population, including the employees of fur and poultry farms and lab technicians handling the bird flu samples, and the veterinarians occupying the posts of animal control offices in regions with fur farms included.
The population involved in the care of wild birds in sanctuaries, livestock farms, or the cleaning of premises, including animal by-product processing plants, will also be vaccinated, THL said.
Fortunately, in the event of human infection of avian influenza, probable contacts of a suspected or confirmed case would equally be administered the vaccine, it noted.