Table 3.

Main features of the AI vaccination strategy conducted in commercial poultry in Egypt and its limitations.

AI vaccination strategy in commercial farms	Limitations
One dose is administered to broilers and multiple doses to layers and breeders	Vaccination protocol varies from farm to farm as no proper standardised protocols are in place, most of sector 3 farms do not vaccinate the broilers
Day old chicks are vaccinated in hatcheries	Inactivated vaccines are not efficient in day old birds and vaccination at a young age could impair adult immunity
Most of duck and geese farms are not applying HPAI vaccination	Without any regular monitoring, there is a risk of the silent circulation of the field virus in the environment (ducks and geese usually are asymptotic carriers)
Some post-vaccination monitoring is performed by private laboratories	No information is available on vaccination coverage and effectiveness in farms
National monitoring is done on a volunteer basis which represents only 6.5% of total farms	There is an increasing risk of the silent circulation of the field virus within vaccinated flocks and the spread of the infection to the household sector if the birds are sold to local markets