The Netherlands is starting a follow-up trial of a vaccine that is thought to be effective against bird flu as a first step towards a national poultry vaccination programme.

Two vaccines were put through their paces last year during a test in which 1,800 chicks were vaccinated and put together with infected chickens without picking up the virus.

One of the vaccines will now be used during a larger-scale pilot at a commercial chicken farm which produces eggs for the national market only. The export of eggs from vaccinated hens is still restricted.

“Instead of killing sick animals, we are protecting healthy ones,” said Kees de Jong of poultry farmers organisation Avined.

“It means a lot, both emotionally and financially. It is a disaster for poultry farmers to have to destroy their animals. We can’t eradicate bird flu but we hope it can be manageable,” he told broadcaster NOS.

The trial will last two years and will be a first step towards a national vaccination programme and a possible relaxation of the export rules, farm minister Femke Boersma said.

De Jong said the pilot is taking place at just one commercial farm because “it’s a big step for farmers to go from non-vaccination to vaccination”.

“We have been lucky enough to have been spared outbreaks in the last 18 months but if a big outbreak should occur I think many more farms will join the pilot. They will have no other choice,” De Jong said.