Australia’s wild penguin vaccination drive targets bird flu in thousands of penguins

Victoria is rolling out what officials call the world’s largest wild-bird vaccination program, aiming to vaccinate more than 5,000 little penguins at Phillip Island and St Kilda against H5N1 bird flu with a two-dose vaccine. The effort, plus vaccination of some captive birds in New Zealand and Australian zoos, uses an inactivated vaccine that requires boosters to raise antibody levels. Vaccines reduce disease impact and transmission but aren’t foolproof, and the virus will continue to evolve, necessitating ongoing vaccine development amid climate-change pressures on wildlife.