With the news that a third farm worker has caught a respiratory version of the disease, the bird flu has taken the lead in the Election Year Virus Race.
The pharmaceutical industry is getting into gear, aiming to produce millions of bird flu vaccine doses this summer.
Some 4.8 million doses of flu vaccine are now being prepared for use in response to the growing U.S. outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or H5N1, officials say.The order for the doses to be filled into vials comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a growing number of human cases linked to the unprecedented outbreak of the virus in dairy cattle this year.The supplies will be pulled from a “pre-pandemic” stockpile funded by the federal Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. Vaccinemaker CSL Seqirus has been tasked with manufacturing the doses at its North Carolina plant.”It utilizes a highly scalable method of production and is currently positioned to deliver up to 150 million influenza vaccine doses to support an influenza pandemic response within six months of a pandemic declaration,” CSL Seqirus said in a release.
Public health experts in Europe and this country are lining up to target dairy farmers, poultry workers, cattle ranchers, and others who work with cattle and birds in their upcoming campaign.
The United States and Europe are taking steps to acquire or manufacture H5N1 bird flu vaccines that could be used to protect at-risk poultry and dairy workers, veterinarians and lab technicians, government officials said, moves influenza experts say could curb the threat of a pandemic.U.S officials last week said they were moving bulk vaccine from CSL Seqirus that closely matches the current virus into finished shots that could provide 4.8 million doses of vaccine. European health officials told Reuters they were in talks to acquire CSL’s prepandemic vaccine.Canadian health officials said they have met with GSK, maker of Canada’s seasonal flu shots, to discuss acquiring and manufacturing a prepandemic bird flu vaccine once its seasonal flu production capacity is freed up.
In addition to preparing all the bird flu doses for humans, plans are underway to test new mRNA vaccines on cattle.
The bird flu outbreak in U.S. dairy cows is prompting development of new, next-generation mRNA vaccines—akin to COVID-19 shots—that are being tested in both animals and people.Next month, the U.S. Agriculture Department is to begin testing a vaccine developed by University of Pennsylvania researchers by giving it to calves. The idea: If vaccinating cows protects dairy workers, that could mean fewer chances for the virus to jump into people and mutate in ways that could spur human-to-human spread.Meanwhile. the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been talking to manufacturers about possible mRNA flu vaccines for people that, if needed, could supplement millions of bird flu vaccine doses already in government hands.“If there’s a pandemic, there’s going to be a huge demand for vaccine,” said Richard Webby, a flu researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. “The more different (vaccine manufacturing) platforms that can respond to that, the better.”
I suspect people will be far less willing to take these vaccines than they might have been before the COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Furthermore, I do not think the public will tolerate another vaccine mandate for themselves or their animals.
I predict millions of bird flu vaccine skeptics will also pop up before November.
Public health professionals, the press, and politicians squandered their credibility and damaged public trust in their rush to implement ill-conceived COVID-19 policies. Perhaps they should be guided by agricultural industry officials, who have a vested interest in keeping livestock alive.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY