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In response to a sudden increase in H7N9 human infections, China introduced an H5/H7 bivalent inactivated vaccine for poultry in Guangxi and Guangdong provinces in July 2017, which subsequently became integrated into the existing compulsory national H5N1 vaccination programme from September 2017. Although the vaccination programme effectively reduced H7N9 infections in humans and poultry, there are ongoing arguments against continuing this long‐term vaccination. These discussions have drawn policymakers to think about the possibility of stopping routine vaccination for H7N9 avian influenza viruses (AIVs) in China; however, they have not considered the poultry industry stakeholders' practices on and attitudes towards this vaccination. This study investigated H7N9 vaccination practices in the yellow broiler industry in Guangxi and stakeholders' attitudes on H7N9 vaccination, using a mixed methods design. The study found H7N9 vaccination was well adopted in the yellow broiler industry in Guangxi regardless of the source of the vaccines. Most stakeholders believed vaccination was the best measure to control H7N9 and H5N1 AIVs, and they showed a strong willingness to continue with vaccination even without government subsidies or freely provided vaccines. The motivations by stakeholders for using vaccines to control H7N9 and H5N1 were different due to the epidemiological differences between the two strains. Understanding poultry industry stakeholders' practices and attitudes on H7N9 vaccination has important practical implications in planning vaccination policies, particularly when considering the possibility of vaccination withdrawal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most Chinese provinces have a daily‐updated database of live animal movements; however, the data are not efficiently utilized to support interventions to control H7N9 and other avian influenzas. Based on official records, this study assessed the spatio‐temporal patterns of live broilers moved out of and within Guangxi in 2017. The yearly and monthly networks were analyzed for inter‐ and intra‐provincial movements, respectively. Approximately 200,000 movements occurred in 2017, involving the transport of 200 million live broilers from Guangxi. Although Guangxi exported to 24 out of 32 provinces of China, 95% of inter‐provincial movements occurred with three bordering provinces. Within Guangxi, counties were highly connected through the live broiler movements, creating conditions for rapid virus spreading throughout the province. Interestingly, a peak in movements during the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, late January in 2017, was not observed in this study, likely due to H7N9‐related control measures constraining live bird trading. Both intra‐ and inter‐provincial movements in March 2017 were significantly higher than in other months of that year, suggesting that dramatic price changes may influence the movement's network and reshape the risk pathways. However, despite these variations, the same small proportion of counties (less than 20%) exporting/importing more than 90% of inter‐ and intra‐provincial movements remains the same throughout the year. Interventions, particularly surveillance and improving biosecurity, targeted to those counties are thus likely to be more effective for avian influenza risk mitigation than implemented indiscriminately. Additionally, simulations further demonstrated that targeting counties according to their degree or betweenness in the movement network would be the most efficient way to limit disease transmission via broiler movements. The study findings provide evidence to support the design of risk‐based control interventions for H7N9 and all other avian influenza viruses in broiler value chains in Guangxi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]