Finland Takes Lead on Preemptive Bird Flu Vaccination for At-Risk Workers

Finland will soon begin offering preemptive bird flu vaccinations to workers exposed to animals, targeting fur and poultry farm workers, bird flu sample handlers, and veterinarians. This initiative, part of a joint EU procurement, involves 20,000 doses from Australian manufacturer CSL Seqirus to protect 10,000 high-risk individuals.

Finland will as soon as possible begin to offer preemptive bird flu vaccination to some workers with exposure to animals, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) said in a statement on Tuesday.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed or caused the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry globally in recent years and has increasingly been spreading to mammals, including cows in the United States and, in some cases, also to humans. Finland has not detected the virus in humans, THL said.

The Nordic country has bought vaccines for 10,000 people, each consisting of two injections, as part of a joint EU procurement

of up to 40 million doses for 15 nations from Australian manufacturer CSL Seqirus. Finland said it procured vaccines for people it deems to be at risk, such as workers at fur and poultry farms, laboratorians that handle bird flu samples and veterinarians who work as animal control officers in regions where fur farms are located.

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