Bird flu solution: Vaccinate chickens or slaughter every infected flock?

FILE - A hen prepares to lay eggs in the chicken coop at his small egg farm at his home in Williamston, Michigan, on Feb. 8, 2023. (Photo by MATTHEW HATCHER/AFP via Getty Images)

Vaccines could be a way to suppress bird flu in the U.S. and avoid the slaughter of millions of chickens amid the rising price of eggs. But concerns over whether it could jeopardize the chicken export industry, worth billions of dollars a year, has delayed the effort. 

The Trump administration previously announced a $1 billion effort to invest in more protection to keep the virus off farms, which it believes will help lower egg prices. Included in that are plans to spend $100 million to study bird flu vaccines to fight the disease. 

But chicken meat producers have been the most resistant to vaccines.  

Bird flu vaccine: What to know

Big picture view:

Without a new policy including vaccines, the government will continue to slaughter every flock with a bird flu infection to limit the spread of the disease. Those deaths have totaled over 166 million birds in the U.S. since 2022.

Most birds killed are egg-laying chickens, and the death of so many hens is the main reason egg prices keep rising. The average price per dozen has hit $5.90, and in some parts of the country, it is far higher.

Chicken meat producers remain the most resistant to vaccines because of concerns they could harm meat exports, which totaled nearly $4.7 billion last year. Egg and turkey producers sell most of their products in the U.S. and have been hit the hardest by the virus.

What they're saying:

Poultry veterinarian Simon Shane, who runs www.Egg-News.com, said the government is hesitant to use vaccines and change its policy of killing birds, largely because of the meat chicken industry's opposition.

"Basically, this is a political issue, and this only came to a head because eggs are at $8 to $9 a dozen, and it’s embarrassing the government — embarrassing the present administration," Shane said.

The other side:

There are fears that vaccinating could allow the virus to linger undetected in flocks and mutate in ways that could make it more of a threat to humans and allow sick birds to get into the food supply. Like with other diseases, properly cooking chicken to 165 degrees Fahrenheit will kill bird flu, but the industry and chicken buyers don't want it there at all.

For meat chicken, known as broilers, the virus isn't as significant because those birds are slaughtered at 6 to 8 weeks old and thus have less chance of being infected compared with egg-laying hens, which live to 2 years or older. Also most broilers are raised in the Southeast, which hasn't had as many outbreaks as the Midwest and West.

Another delay to vaccination is over distribution. Egg farmers want to administer it through chicken feed or water, saying it's not practical to give shots to millions of birds in a single barn.

It can also be difficult to tell the difference between a vaccinated bird and one that has been sick with the virus. That would make other countries nervous about importing meat.

Dig deeper:

Before using bird flu vaccinations, the government must decide how to devise an effective system and monitor for outbreaks within vaccinated flocks that might not show any symptoms, said John Clifford, the USDA's former longtime chief veterinary officer, who now works with a poultry industry export group. 

Once that is figured out, the industry can negotiate with countries to minimize trade problems.

"What the industry wants is the ability to develop the strategic plan to share that with the trading partners and then find out what kind of impact that that will have on trade," Clifford said.

Would vaccinating chickens help egg prices?

What we know:

Experts say don’t expect big relief anytime soon. The USDA, which did not respond to a request for comment last week from the Associated Press, isn’t moving to vaccinate immediately. And it would take time to raise new hens.

"We’re going to have to wait to replace those with new hatched chicks, and it takes 20 weeks before they even start laying," Shane told the Associated Press. "So I don’t know where they’re going to get the eggs from."

Prices may ease somewhat later this year after peak demand, which happens around Easter. But that's if massive egg farms in Iowa, Ohio, California and elsewhere can avoid more outbreaks.

By the numbers:

The USDA has predicted that average egg prices will be 41% higher than the 2024 average of $3.17 per dozen. That would mean $4.47 per dozen, slightly below the current average.