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White House mulls mass vaccination campaign for poultry to combat bird flu outbreak

By Brian Buntz | March 7, 2023

Portrait of a beautiful charismatic chicken of black color in profile in a natural environment with a beautiful soft bokeh, close-up shot of a macro

[Image courtesy of cendeced/Adobe Stock]

The Biden administration is considering a mass vaccination campaign for poultry. Such an initiative could counter the deadly H5N1 bird flu outbreak, which has also fueled a shortage of eggs while spiking their price.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are exploring the development of novel poultry vaccines. The agency is also discussing an unprecedented mass bird flu vaccination initiative with industry leaders. 

The UK and the European Union are also considering similar initiatives to vaccinate poultry.

Bird flu threat to humans remains remote at present

A mass vaccination campaign against H5N1 could protect humans from infections of the virus, which the CDC considers a remote possibility. 

The $35.5 billion poultry industry worries that a comprehensive vaccination campaign could  negatively impact the sector. 

According to Dr. Teresa Morishita, a professor of poultry medicine and food safety at Western University of Health Sciences, COVID-19 has demonstrated how quickly these different virus strains can mutate.

Most avian influenza viruses cannot infect humans, but a subset can. To date, there have been 240 reports of human infection from the H5N1 virus since 2003, according to WHO. A total of 135 of those infections (56%) proved fatal. 

bird flu map

[Image courtesy of USDA]

Other developments

The poultry trade is divided on a mass vaccination campaign as it might lead to trade restrictions. Scientists say a vaccination campaign could reduce the risk of a human pandemic.

The CDC is also discussing with the industry the prospect of creating antigen tests for H5N1, similar to those used for COVID-19, according to The New York Times.

“The trouble doesn’t end with commercial poultry. An outbreak amongst backyard poultry flocks is also of great concern,” Morishita said.

An 11-year-old Cambodian girl died recently from an H5N1 infection probably linked to close contact with birds. The girl, however, was infected with a different virus from what is currently circulating in the U.S. The Cambodian Ministry of Health said the virus in question was H5 clade 2.3.2.1c. The highly contagious H5 clade 2.3.2.1c subtype of H5N1 can cause severe respiratory illness in humans.

The current outbreak in the U.S. could be the deadliest in history. To date, it has killed 58.6 million birds in the U.S., according to USDA stats. In addition, farmers have identified the virus strain responsible for the outbreak in 46 states.

Other countries, including Estonia, are also grappling with the bird flu outbreak.

About The Author

Brian Buntz

The pharma and biotech editor of WTWH Media, Brian is a veteran journalist with more than 15 years of experience covering an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, drug discovery and development and medical devices. Before coming to WTWH, he served as content director focused on connected devices at Informa. In addition, Brian covered the medical device sector for 10 years at UBM. At Qmed, he overhauled the brand’s news coverage and helped to grow the site’s traffic volume dramatically. He had previously held managing editor roles on two of the company’s medical device technology publications. Connect with him on LinkedIn or email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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