What impact would HPAI vaccination have on US poultry trade?

Rather than speculating on what the impact of an HPAI vaccination or pilot project would be on exports of U.S. poultry products, USDA APHIS should consult trade partners.

 recently reported on comments made by  John Clifford, DVM veterinary trade and policy advisor, USA Poultry and Egg Export Council (USAPEEC) at the 2026 Chicken Marketing Summit. Clifford called for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to release the pilot highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) vaccination project for table egg layers that was presented to them by the United Egg Producers (UEP) and the American Egg Board (AEB).

Clifford said, “USDA APHIS reached out to the entire industry with a number of calls with specific questions to develop a vaccination strategy, which they did. They sent that out after they developed it to the state animal health officials to review, then to the departments of agriculture, the commissioners of agriculture to review, and then they sent it to the industry to review last December, and we (the industry) provided those responses back to them by first week in January of this year (2026). Since then, we've heard nothing.”

At the 2026 UEP Area Briefing held virtually on August 18, 2026, Oscar Garrison, senior vice president of food safety and regulatory affairs, UEP, reported that on August 5, 2026, “The USAPEEC board approved a motion requesting that USDA APHIS engage in formal consultations with key international trading partners regarding trade implications of potential HPAI vaccination programs or pilot projects.” 

The request asks USDA APHIS to present the proposed strategy to our trading partners and seek formal feedback on how implementation of such a program could affect market access for U.S. poultry and egg products, he reported.

Garrison stressed that USAPEEC’s request of the USDA is not an endorsement of HPAI vaccination or pilot projects.

I think that USDA APHIS should honor USAPEEC’s request. USAPEEC represents all exporting segments of the U.S. poultry industry, from poultry meat, eggs and egg products and genetics. Learning how our trading partners would react to the specifics of the proposed plan would allow for a more accurate cost benefit analysis and, perhaps, provide insight into any changes which would keep trade from being halted.

HPAI is endemic in migratory waterfowl and has spread across the globe. The global poultry industry needs to work together to address this challenge, it isn’t going away.