China has developed a new type of vaccine that can prevent newcastle disease and aviation influenza, or bird flu, through sprinkling, a senior official said at a news conference in Beijing Wednesday.

China has confirmed 30 outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) with some 22.2 million poultry being culled to prevent a further spread, according to official figures.

"The newly developed vaccine, against newcastle disease and AI, can be easily deployed through sprinkling, drinking, eye-dropping and various other means," said Jia Youling, national chief veterinary officer.

"It can significantly reduce the labor and the risk involved," he said.

With about 14.3 billion poultry and some 690,000 villages in which most households raise only dozens of chickens, China found the overall vaccination a mission quite hard to accomplish.

China will provide the free vaccine for all domestic birds and focus on small-scaled household-raisers, Jia said.

Source: Xinhua