Former CDC Director Warns of Imminent Bird Flu Pandemic

The former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Robert Redfield, MD, has issued a warning that a bird flu pandemic is imminent because the H5N1 virus is spreading among cattle herds in the United States and there are reports of H5N1 virus infections in humans. The CDC is currently investigating wastewater treatment sites to pinpoint the virus’ origins, with over 40 herds having confirmed cases of bird flu.¹

In a recent interview, Dr. Redfield, who led the CDC between 2018 and 2021, expressed concern over the growing number of human infections in the U.S. “I really do think it’s very likely that we will, at some time, it’s not a question of if, it’s more a question of when we will have a bird flu pandemic,” he said.¹

Bird Flu Poses “Significant Mortality” to Humans Compared to COVID

Redfield also explained that the H5N1 virus poses a significantly increased mortality risk to humans compared to coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), with an estimated mortality rate of between 20 and 25 percent. Currently, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the avian virus.

Redfield noted that in order for bird flu to spread between people, five specific amino acids must be present.  He said:

Once the virus acquires the capability to attach to human receptors and transmit from person to person, that’s when a pandemic will occur. As I mentioned, I believe it’s just a matter of time.¹

The CDC maintains that the risk to the human population is low. However, expanding on his prediction of a future pandemic, Redfield believes there is potential for mutated bird flu virus to be made in labs by scientists conducting experiments on the H5N1 virus. He said:

I know exactly what amino acids I have to change because in 2012, against my recommendation, the scientists that did these experiments actually published them. So, the recipe for how to make bird flu highly infectious for humans is already out there.¹

Historically, the wild (or naturally occurring) H5N1 strain has rarely affected humans but, when it did, more than half of the infected individuals died. While H5N1 is not currently capable of spreading from person to person, gain-of-function (GOF) research—a type of medical research that involves genetically altering organisms to increase the transmissibility or virulence of pathogens—can cause the virus to evolve in ways that allow it to spread between humans and potentially cause the next global pandemic.²

In 2011, two scientific teams—one in Wisconsin led by virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka, and another in the Netherlands led by virologist Ron Fouchier—conducted gain-of-function research and potentially advanced mutation of the H5N1 virus. Each lab created H5N1 viruses capable of airborne transmission between ferrets, the animal model used to study flu virus infection mechanisms in humans.²

Bird Flu and Coronavirus Gain-of-Function Research Connected to Anthony Fauci’

Ironically, the stated goal of the 2011 gain-of-function (GOF) research was to prevent future pandemics. The research received support and funding from two of the most prominent scientists in the U.S.: Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Fauci remains the subject of public scrutiny for his numerous missteps throughout the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, including his involvement in funding GOF research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, fueling concerns that the research contributed to the origins of the coronavirus.²

In 2023, a high-ranking CIA whistleblower disclosed that six out of the seven analysts on the CIA’s COVID-19 Origin team were offered “hush money” to suppress their findings that a mutated coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) had leaked from a biohazard lab in Wuhan. The unnamed whistleblower, reportedly a current senior intelligence agency employee, claimed that significant monetary incentives were offered to those investigating the virus’s origin, provided they avoided concluding that COVID originated from the Wuhan lab.³

Most recently, data from NIH revealed that Fauci and the nation’s medical research agency collected a staggering $710 million in royalties between 2021 and 2023—information the agency hoped to conceal until the organization OpenTheBooks.com sued the agency in federal court with the assistance of Judicial Watch. It was revealed, following a two-year legal battle, that payments from pharmaceutical companies for licensing medical innovations were made to NIAID, led by Fauci, the U.S. government’s highest-paid bureaucrat, and to 260 of his scientists.³

In 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was among the first U.S. intelligence agencies to conclude that the pandemic was the “likely result of a lab accident” in Wuhan. However, American intelligence and international health bodies have declined to state a definitive conclusion to date as to the origins of COVID. President Biden attributes the standstill to China’s stonewalling of the investigation and the controversy over the safety and ethics of GOF research continues to this day.⁴

Accelerated Bird Flu Vaccine Development Underway

There appears to be a growing chorus of professors, government officials and doctors sounding the alarm about the potential for bird flu to become a pandemic. “The thing that is a concern to me is the lack of [widespread] testing” of animals and milk on farms, Jenna Guthmiller, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine, said. “By not having a better grasp of this outbreak, it could get a lot worse for dairy cows, for our food chain, and could have the potential to jump into a pandemic.”⁵

The dire warnings are reminiscent of the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and the response appears to mirror Operation Warp Speed, the partnership between the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Defense (DoD) which helped to accelerate the development of a COVID vaccine. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine are already working to expedite the development and production of an mRNA bird flu vaccine for humans.⁵

CDC: Human Bird Flu Symptoms Mild or Nonexistent

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), from 2003 to April 2024, 23 countries have reported a total of 889 human cases of H5N1 influenza. According to the CDC, most infected individuals exhibited mild or no symptoms. The most common bird flu symptoms in. humans are eye redness (conjunctivitis), respiratory difficulties, fever, cough, sore throat, and pneumonia. In May 2024, the CDC reported the third human case of bird flu since March. All three cases involved farmworkers, but they were not connected. Their symptoms included a feverless cough and conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink eye.^{5 6}

Among the hundreds of thousands of people who work in the U.S. poultry industry, there are currently have been four reported human cases of H5N1 bird flu. Globally, doctors have identified 15 bird flu infections in humans. This includes one fatality—a 38-year-old woman in southern China in 2022.⁵

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