Harrisvaccines Developing Vaccine for Avian Influenza

US - Joel Harris, Director of Sales and Marketing at Harrisvaccines, said Harrisvaccines is in the process of developing a vaccine to help producers battling Avian Influenza.

15 June 2015

2 minute read

By: Sarah Mikesell

North America

Harris said timing for a conditional USDA approval is difficult to say because H5 is a difficult disease for the industry.

He said the technology has applications with other species as well. The vaccines for different species are all made the same way, the only difference is the virus or genetic sequence that they start to work with.

Harris spoke to ThePoultrySite at World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, USA in early June.

Avian Influenza has affected over 40 million birds in the US. Since December 2014, USDA has confirmed cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 in the Pacific, Central, and Mississippi flyways (or migratory bird paths). The disease has been found in wild birds, and backyard and commercial poultry flocks.

Sarah Mikesell

Editor

Sarah Mikesell grew up on a five-generation family farming operation in Ohio, USA, where her family still farms. She feels extraordinarily lucky to get to do what she loves - write about livestock and crop agriculture. You can find her on Twitter or LinkedIn.