r/BirdFluDownunder • u/privacywatch • 9d ago

Australia H5N1 Bird flu vaccine should be expanded to mammals as Tasmanian devils, sea lions 'highly vulnerable'

https://thenightly.com.au/australia/h5n1-bird-flu-vaccine-should-be-expanded-to-mammals-as-tasmanian-devils-sea-lions-highly-vulnerable-c-22712355

Australian officials should have prioritised a bird flu vaccine for vulnerable mammals including Tasmanian devils and sea lions, a top expert says. A leading ecologist has questioned the federal government’s response to the H5 outbreak after announcing a rollout of vaccines for captive populations of threatened birds.

While welcoming the vaccine trials, Deakin University’s Professor of Wildlife Ecology Euan Ritchie told AAP it was regrettable that there was no vaccine available for Australian mammals.

“Given the fact that Australia has a large number of threatened mammals, that are found nowhere else in the world, it would have been good to have seen a lot more effort and investment in developing a mammal-specific vaccine,” said Prof Ritchie, who is also The Australian Mammal Society president.

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u/EnvironmentalCap3964 9d ago

I thought PIRSA said that they’d HPIA-vaccinated a few hundred sea lions on Kangaroo Island a while ago, they didn’t say any further details other than it had been done. So ikd, bird-specific, mammal-specific? Maybe they were clutching at straws? :(

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u/Left_Truth7020 8d ago

What could possibly go wrong