To effectively vaccinate 5,000 little penguins you must first catch them. Luckily for their trained handlers, the birds on Phillip Island are used to human contact.

The handlers will corral one of the wild birds into a pen and hold it for a minute or two to administer the shot before releasing the penguin to hobble off and go about its business.

But to be fully vaccinated, each penguin must receive two jabs, four to six weeks apart, so when a bird is immunised a microchip is also implanted under the skin of its back between the scapulae.

When a little penguin is recaptured for its second jab, their microchips are scanned to check if they’re one of the lucky avians getting immunised and if enough time has passed since their first injection.

“The birds are … not likely to run away and they return to the same burrow, so you've got the ability to capture the same animal twice,” Victoria’s Chief Biodiversity Officer, James Todd, told the Monitor.

What happened: This massive undertaking of immunising 5,000 little penguins, some on Phillip Island and others at the St Kilda Pier, is a state government program to protect the native species against the spread of bird flu, in what could be the largest vaccination for H5N1 of wild birds ever.

Victoria’s Chief Biodiversity Officer, James Todd, told the Monitor little penguins on Phillip Island made great candidates for the vaccine despite being a wild population.

Gippsland councils’ $4.7 million plan for housing and road upgrades ahead of offshore wind roll out

“We need to make sure that we're prepared and we can accommodate the workers.”

“Little penguins are an iconic Victorian species. They support significant conservation and tourism so they have been prioritised as a species that could use the vaccine.”

Victoria is home to the world's largest population of little penguins, estimated at 40,000.

This year in Australia, there have been 151 confirmed reports of H5N1 in wild birds, 43 in Victoria.

“We're seeing more and more cases spreading east, including on Phillip Island,” Todd said.

The CSIRO ran trials on this vaccine last year, deeming it safe to give to small native birds.

As part of a $2 million federal government program, states and territory governments are nominating priority species for the vaccines.

“As far as we're aware, this is the largest attempted vaccination programme for bird flu for any wildlife species in the world,” Todd said.

How a 1926 post office became marooned in a Yarragon car park

Over the decades, neighbouring structures - including the former police station - were demolished and paved.

💉 Line up for the jab

The vaccine’s effectiveness on wild birds is unclear, but University of Melbourne research said 8,000-16,000 penguins could die if there was a six-week outbreak on Phillip Island.

Todd said the government wasn’t sure how effective the vaccine will be at protecting penguins but an outbreak would give them an idea and determine whether they continue to use immunisation as a tool to fight virus outbreaks in the future.

Have you got the op shop itch? Here’s our ultimate guide to Gippsland’s best second hand stores

Hunt for bargains while contributing to local charities.

👀 Keep an eye out

Symptoms of avian flu in wild birds include animals having difficulty walking, breathing or flying, an unusual head or neck posture, a droopy appearance or dying suddenly without an apparent cause.

If you see any of these signs on birds in your community, you can report it to the Emergency Animal Disease hotline.

If you find a deceased bird, don't touch it and try to keep dogs away.

Keep Reading