The article discusses the potential of vaccines to control bird flu, which has led to the slaughter of millions of chickens, consequently driving up egg prices to nearly $6 a dozen. Plans for a substantial investment in vaccine research have been hampered by resistance from chicken meat producers worried about export implications. The U.S. Department of Agriculture aims to spend $100 million on vaccine studies as part of a broader $1 billion initiative to protect poultry farms from the virus. Unless vaccination policies change, the government will continue to destroy infected flocks.
Vaccines could be a key means of suppressing bird flu and avoiding the slaughter of millions of chickens, which is blamed for egg prices averaging nearly $6 a dozen.
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.
The government is hesitant to use vaccines and change its policy of killing birds largely because of the meat chicken industry's opposition.
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.
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