There has been much attention paid to the increase in egg prices, and with that has come high-level conversations about whether the U.S. should implement a new strategy to combat highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), including the use of vaccines. NCC continues to communicate with key stakeholders the importance of protecting the broiler industry’s ability to export should there be a new approach to address the ongoing outbreak – including using an HPAI vaccine.
Most countries, including the U.S., do not recognize countries that vaccinate as free of the HPAI due to concerns that vaccines can mask the presence of the virus. Therefore, these countries do not import from countries that do vaccinate.
Further, even if one sector (egg layers, turkeys, ducks) proceeds with a vaccine, the broiler industry will be impacted as our trading partners view all “poultry” (egg layers, turkeys, broilers, ducks, etc.) the same. This means that regardless of what poultry sector vaccinates for HPAI, without the necessary trade protections in place, the broiler industry will lose our ability to export, which will cost the industry and the U.S. economy billions of dollars every year.
These export losses would have a devastating impact on thousands of family farmers who raise the birds.
Until we have these written assurances and trade protections in place with our trading partners, and the definition of “poultry” is changed by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), NCC will continue to oppose vaccination for HPAI in any species.
We support USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) “stamping out” policy to eradicate the virus.
Last week, a bipartisan group of members of Congress wrote to USDA to seek assurances to protect U.S. chicken exports should vaccination be contemplated as part of any government strategy to combat HPAI. We strongly agree that any such strategy must include robust trade protections (for meat and genetics) for America’s broiler producers.
Background
The table below provides a current breakdown of HPAI cases by species from February 8, 2022, through February 13, 2025, using data from USDA-APHIS. Information on all cases to date can be found on the APHIS website.
As noted above, of the total number of birds affected over the three years of the outbreak, only about 8 percent have been broiler chickens. For context, those 13+ million broiler chickens affected represent roughly 0.0005 percent of broiler production during the same time period (about 27 billion broilers).
Meanwhile, the U.S. broiler industry is the second largest exporter of chicken in the world, exporting about 16 percent of our chicken meat production, valued at more than $5 billion annually.
So, the industry least affected by HPAI stands the most to lose with a vaccination strategy without trade protections.
