Cities and provinces, especially those in the Mekong Delta, need to accomplish this year’s first round of vaccinations in March and April, amid a high risk of bird flu reoccurring, an official has said.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Diep Kinh Tan, delivered the request at a meeting of the National Steering Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Prevention held in Hanoi on March 9.

Tan also asked the Mekong Delta provinces of Ca Mau and Soc Trang to stamp out detected bird flu outbreaks, citing their low rate of vaccinated poultry, loose management of poultry flocks and local veterinarians’ failure to grasp the severity of the epidemic.

To date, all cities and provinces throughout the country have completed last year’s second round of vaccinations, with a total of 171 million heads of poultry vaccinated.

By March 9, six provinces, namely Soc Trang and Ca Mau in the south, Khanh Hoa in the central region, and Dien Bien, Tuyen Quang and Ha Giang in the north, had seen outbreaks of bird flu within the previous 21 days.

Under the Health Ministry’s regulations, if a province has no new outbreak for 21 days, it is considered to be free from the disease./.