# 2853
In 2004 and 2005, when Vietnam was known as the world's most bird flu affected nation, that nation began serious containment and eradication programs.
As a measure of their success, Vietnam went through all of 2006 and the first half of 2007 without reporting a single human case. Even reports in poultry were rare.
It seemed, at least for a time, that through a combination of public education, disinfection of poultry farms, and a rigorous vaccination program that Vietnam had beaten back the virus.
Unfortunately, in the past 18 months, bird flu has re-emerged in Vietnam, resulting in at least 16 human infections.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Sinh Hung, public education about the dangers of the virus are either not filtering through to the public, or are simply disbelieved.
Worse, agencies whose job it is to vaccinate poultry appear to have inflated the number of birds inoculated in order to reap more profits.
The following are excerpts from a much longer article that appears in today's Thanh Nien News. Follow the link to read it in its entirety.
Deputy PM lambasts lax bird flu control
A street vendor sells duck noodle on a Hanoi street last Friday.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung rebuked authorities for failing to control and prevent bird flu this week as the virus and other animal diseases spread to several new localities.
Though local governments have improved disease control since bird flu first hit Vietnam in 2003, they have not focused on containing outbreaks, according to a statement Hung issued after chairing an online conference on bird flu prevention Thursday.
Hung said only half of the country’s inoculation target had been met.
The Health Ministry has said it is still storing some 100 million of the 250 million vaccine shots it imported last year.
At another meeting last week, the ministry’s Department of Animal Health said several veterinary agencies’ reports that some provinces had vaccinated 40- 60 percent of their poultry and cattle were inaccurate.
Some agencies had overstated the number of immunizations to collect vaccination fees from the government, the department said.
<snip>
Hung argued that bird flu awareness campaigns had yielded few positive results.
Health officials said citizens have yet to realize the seriousness of the problem and are not taking proper precautionary measures.
<snip>
Chicken and poultry products are still being sold in large quantities in many bird-flu-affected provinces despite local bans. Many sellers have said they did not care about the diseases and many don’t understand the virus is dangerous to humans.
