bird flu

Bird flu already has devastated the dairy and poultry industries in many regions and sickened dozens of farmworkers.

Last month, HHS canceled nearly $800 million in grants to the pharmaceutical company Moderna for the development of a human vaccine against bird flu, part of a Biden administration effort to prepare for possible future pandemics, the potential social and economic impact of which should be self-evident, given our experience with COVID.

We have very good reason to surveil infections — H5N1 bird flu, for example — in our mammal and other animal friends in hopes of heading off a disastrous adaptation enabling human-to-human transmission of a virus that spreads easily and kills or maims many of those it infects.

While it might be tempting to answer: RFK Jr — and to imagine that this is why he's hard at work reducing Americans' access to vaccines against dangerous viruses, promoting spread of H5N1 bird flu, and shutting down research into antiviral mRNA vaccines that might save us from that same bird flu, among other viruses — the science does not remotely support the idea that adding opportunities to get infected with viruses is good for our health.

He warned, however, that there were novel threats facing seabirds - including bird flu and the recent marine heatwave conditions experienced around parts of the UK coastline.