Nearly two dozen U.S.senators urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a letter, to “prioritize” a vaccine strategy for the highly pathogenic avian influenza.
The virus has impacted more than 184 million commercial and backyard poultry birds and more than 1,000 head of dairy cattle sence February 2022.
The letter comes as detections of the bird flu have increased over the winter months in states across the country, according to reporting from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
A case of bird flu was detected in Iowa dec. 2,in a Hamilton County commercial turkey flock,and as recently as Tuesday in flocks in Indiana,north Dakota,Minnesota and Washington.
The bipartisan letter, which included iowa Republicans Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley, said a “thoughtful and comprehensive vaccine strategy” would “strengthen” the nation’s ability to fight the bird flu, as it prepares for a “resurgence.”
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins launched a $1 billion plan in February to combat the ongoing outbreak of the H5N1 virus. Part of that plan included $100 million for research into a bird flu vaccine and other potential treatments.
The letter said USDA has a “draft proposal of an avian flu vaccine strategy for poultry” that is “currently under review” and the signed senators urged the department to advance the process with “speed and diligence.”
Worth a look