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U.S. May Vaccinate Poultry in Response to Bird Flu Outbreak

man feeding chickens

The U.S. government is considering a mass vaccination campaign for commercial poultry as an option to address an outbreak of pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 (bird flu) in the country.1

In February 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced an H5N1 virus outbreak in a commercial turkey facility in Dubois County, Indiana, which was followed by outbreaks in three other commercial poultry facilities and a backyard flock. This was the first confirmed case of the H5N1 virus in commercial poultry in the United States since 2020.2

According to APHIS, this is the biggest H5N1 outbreak in history in the U.S., affecting more than 58 million farmed birds in 47 states. The outbreak has caused the deaths of millions of chickens, resulting in price of eggs to increase.3

A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said:

There are a range of options the United States regularly considers when there is any outbreak that could affect the security and safety of the United States’ food supply. Right now, we are focused on promoting and enhancing high-impact biosafety practices and procedures.4

Avian Influenza in Birds is Common

Avian influenza A viruses have been found in 100 different species of wild birds around the world. The viruses are naturally found in wild aquatic birds and can infect domestic poultry and other bird and animal species. Wild aquatic birds include water birds such as ducks, geese, swans, gulls, and terns, and shorebirds, such as storks, plovers, and sandpipers. Wild aquatic birds, particularly dabbling ducks, are considered hosts for avian influenza A viruses.

Wild aquatic birds can be infected with avian influenza A viruses in their intestines and respiratory tract but may not necessarily show symptoms. Avian influenza A viruses are very contagious among birds and can kill certain domesticated bird species, such as chickens, ducks and turkeys.5

Birds infected with avian influenza A viruses shed the virus through their saliva, nasal secretions, and feces. Susceptible birds get infected via contact with infected birds and through contaminated surfaces.6

Avian Influenza is Low Risk and Rare in Humans

Avian influenza infections in humans are rare and transmission of the virus between humans is extremely rare.7 According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), less than 10 human cases of H5N1 infections have been reported worldwide.8

Cases of avian influenza in humans typically occur when people are exposed to infected poultry. The CDC, in partnership with local public health departments, is monitoring people who are exposed to the H5N1 virus. So far, 6,315 people in the U.S. have been monitored out of which 163 reported symptoms. Only one person has tested positive for the virus so far.9

Concerns About Human Adapted Version of Avian Flu Causing a Pandemic

Health policy professionals have worried that a human adapted version of avian influenza could lead to a global pandemic. Garrett Wilkinson of the international nonprofit public health organization Partners In Health (PIH) in Boston, Massachusetts said:

While it is extremely important that serious efforts are taken to bring the outbreak in domestic and wild birds under control, the reality of the situation is serious enough that we must be taking more steps to prepare for a possible human outbreak of this virus. We should be viewing this as a live-action fire drill.10

A report released by PIH stated:

We evaluated the policy response o H5N1in the U.S. and have identified potential gaps in A (H5N1) pandemic preparedness. While non-exhaustive, this analysis identifies important gaps and describes steps that need to be taken to ensure that vaccine-based countermeasures are available in the event they are needed.11

Avian Influenza Vaccines Being Tested

Currently, a vaccine for a highly infectious avian influenza strain like H5N1 has not been approved for administration to chickens and turkeys in the U.S. Officials at the USDA say that there are several licensed poultry vaccines but it is not known whether they are effective against the current strain.12

Dr. Erica Spackman, a microbiologist at USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, who is the lead scientist in the testing of the poultry vaccines, said they have been working to develop vaccine candidates internally but are also testing vaccines that are already licensed for chickens, turkeys and domestic ducks. If any of the licensed vaccines are found to be effective, there is a possibility that they could be approved for use faster than new vaccine candidates. The approval time for animal vaccines is usually three years; however, that time period can be altered in emergency cases.13

Farm birds already receive vaccines for infectious poultry diseases such as fowlpox. However, there is concern that an avian influenza vaccination program would complicate issues relating to trade restrictions that could potentially jeopardize the $6 billion poultry export industry. Dr. Carol Cardona, who is an expert on avian health at the University of Minnesota, said that the fear of trade bans on H5N1 vaccinated poultry is a huge obstacle to the mass vaccination program.14


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Click here to view References:

1 Samuels B. White House weighs mass poultry vaccination amid bird flu outbreak. The Hill Mar. 6, 2023.
2 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. USDA Confirms Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in a Commercial Turkey Flock in Dubois County, Indiana. U.S. Department of Agriculture Feb. 9, 2022.
3 Stolberg SG, Anthes E. U.S. Considers Vaccinating Chickens as Bird Flu Kills Millions of Them. The New York Times Mar. 6, 2023.
4 Samuels B. White House weighs mass poultry vaccination amid bird flu outbreak. The Hill Mar. 6, 2023.
5 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Avian Influenza in Birds. Mar. 9. 2022.
6 Ibid.
7 Stolberg SG, Anthes E. U.S. Considers Vaccinating Chickens as Bird Flu Kills Millions of Them. The New York Times Mar. 6, 2023.
8 CDC. Current U.S. Bird Flu Situation in Humans. Mar. 6, 2023.
9 Stolberg SG, Anthes E. U.S. Considers Vaccinating Chickens as Bird Flu Kills Millions of Them. The New York Times Mar. 6, 2023.
10 Ibid.
11 Partners in Health and Global Health Strategies. Vaccine Countermeasures for a Potential Outbreak of Clade 2.3.4.4b A (H5N1) Influenza in Humans A Rapid Readiness Analysis. Mar. 3, 2023.
12 Stolberg SG, Anthes E. U.S. Considers Vaccinating Chickens as Bird Flu Kills Millions of Them. The New York Times Mar. 6, 2023.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.

9 Responses

  1. please convert reference to a format without java script.!
    Cannot access reference 3,7,9,12.

    Also No link 🔗 for reference 6, 10, 13, 14.

    Is my food safe?
    How can I avoid eating vaccinated food?
    Organic?

  2. If the flu is transmitted from wild birds to food birds,.
    How come organic free range homeless price increase was less than Coop up price increase??

  3. Hogwash. The virus is fake and the vaccines are as well. But big pharma will make billions anyway as they usually do. It’s no surprise that there has been a worldwide food elimination program going on for the last 4-5 years.

    Kill the cows, chickens, less eggs, less meat, burning food suppliers down, supply chain mismanagement, etc…all in the name of killing off the population…and supporting fake global warming.

    Here it is the middle of March and my temps are 20 degrees…where is my nice sunny 70-80 degree day courtesy of global warming?

  4. New pharmasuetical marketing campaign; Force Them!

    We switched exclusively to costco for beef and poultry. They have public statements regarding firm comittments to remove unnecessary antibiotic and pharmasuetical treatments from their dedicated food supply chains. When you buy beef from kroger or wall mart it comes from half a world away, much of it from Brazil. As that country also stole the citizens votes and basically has turned communist, we decided not to spend our money there anymore. It was an interesting adventure, just started with a question to Kroger king soopers about if their beef was treated with rnma vaccines or not, as we wanted to avoid this. We learned the beef has a ‘touch point’ rating of at least a dozen stops where various chemical and preservative treatments are applied over a thousand mile journey before it hits the shelves, local employees really don’t even know exactly where the meat products actually are sourced from. Meanwhile costco is sourcing American raised beef, antibiotic and minimal treatment free. Even the local meat department people can competently answer questions on the product sourcing. This mandatory vaccine program now extending to animals is pure idiocracy.

  5. Total crap! We have seen this time and time again and all it does is destroy a particular food source. If most people can’t see the agenda behind this nonsense, they are part of the problem.

  6. NO. YOU HAVE LOST ALL COMMON SENSE. WE WILL NOT EAT YOUR TOXINS. SO STOP EVERY ATTEMPT AT INSANITY, AND STOP IT NOW.

  7. This is all fake news. There is no virus that affects birds. What is happening is factory farming of chickens is causing bacterial infections and disease because of the horrible conditions…but at no point is this affecting backyard chickens in the slightest. They say that because it gives them the green light to try and vaccinate ALL chickens, when really the vaccines, just like the vaccines for humans, are fake and what is actually causing disease. Please read Virus Mania (book) to learn more, but there has never been a single vaccine that has cured anything. Spanish Flu started because our government selected 4700 military men for a experimental vaccine, with three doses. This was started and funded by Rockefeller, of course, who was a Eugenists just like the idiots ruling over us now are. By the third dose, 1000 of those military folks either were so sick they couldn’t continue or dead. Then they deployed those sick military men overseas. Rockefeller saw the results of the experiment, and deployed those vaccines to Europe where the fighting was going on. Rockefeller and the medical establishment claimed there was a pandemic going on, and was able to vaccinate the civilian population, including countries in Europe. Only those people that were vaccinated died. Look up Eleanor McBean and her book The Poisoned Needle. She was alive during that time and can account for that. Her family was trying to help all her neighbors, because the doctors and nurses all took the vaccines and were dying, and her and her family NEVER got sick once walking in and out of the houses of the sick. 92 percent of deaths during that time were from BACTERIAL PNEUMONIA!! Not some fake virus. All this applies to animals too. Do NOT vaccinate your dogs, chickens, whatever. There was a veterinarian who testified before congress and told them that it’s horrible to vaccinate your animals, and that he did a test with his own animals…he had animals that had already been vaccinated, and then he has another group of animals that were not vaccinated. The vaccinated ALL died of diseases, while his natural animals died of natural causes. Research it. Do not trust anything that comes out of the mouth of the government, ever.

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