France slashed bird flu outbreaks by vaccinating ducks

France would have had hundreds of outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu on poultry farms in the past year had it not vaccinated ducks against the disease for the first time, according to a modelling study. Instead, there were just 10.

“The conclusion is that vaccination made a huge difference,” says Timothée Vergne at the National Veterinary School of Toulouse, France.

While bird flu vaccines for poultry have long been used in some…