02-13-2025, 03:33 AM
Tiangou wrote:
Sounds like what we need is a vaccine.
If only the government had one...
And the willingness to use it.
...
https://www.newsweek.com/why-us-not-vacc...lu-2010511
"The only reason that we are not vaccinating poultry against bird flu is because the chicken companies don't want to," deCoriolis said. "Industrial meat companies rely on export markets for their business model, and they simply don't want to lose those export markets."
The National Chicken Council has openly cited this concern. In 2023, its senior vice president of communications told CNN that protecting trade relationships was a primary reason for opposing vaccination...
The USDA acknowledges these challenges, too. "A national vaccination strategy includes challenges for domestic implementation, including the cost and logistics of an effective national strategy, the development of appropriate surveillance programs, and minimizing potential trade ramifications," a spokesperson told Newsweek.
Despite these concerns, critics argue that the economic risks are being prioritized over public health.
"The USDA is currently subsidizing chicken companies when they have outbreaks," deCoriolis said.
"American taxpayers have spent billions in the last two years bailing out chicken and turkey companies that have had outbreaks. If they don't vaccinate, they keep their export market; if they have a bird flu outbreak, they get a bailout."
Is this not the perfect snapshot of today's America? Our government, under the influence of lobbyists, is spending millions on bailouts and billions on the indirect consequences of the bailouts, culling millions of birds, driving up consumer prices, and targeting "waste" by firing the regulators.
Well, besides the companies apparently not wanting to use it, the avian flu vaccines so far are good against single strains of the virus. Just like influenza virus for humans, there are multiple strains out there and they keep mutating into new strains. A vaccine may not protect against the new strain at all.