§ 71. Sir H. Harrisonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make vaccination of poultry compulsory in Norfolk and Suffolk in view of the amount of fowl pest.
§ Mr. Scott-HopkinsAs I said in reply to the hon. Member for Norfolk, South-West (Mr. Hilton) on 20th January, compulsory vaccination is impracticable because there is no way of telling whether birds have been vaccinated or not.
Vaccination against fowl pest is in poultry keepers' own interests, and in Norfolk and Suffolk at least they have recognised this, and have made good use of the vaccine. As a result of this, and of restrictions on the movement and marketing of poultry, the disease position in these counties is far from unsatisfactory and compares favourably with past years. There were 195 outbreaks in Norfolk and Suffolk during the last quarter of 1963, which is well below the average for the previous four years; in January there were 16 outbreaks compared with an average of 150 for the previous 4 years and in the first 23 days of February there were 11W 8 outbreaks. There have been no infected area restrictions in these counties since 18th January.