“Eyeing Potential Bird Flu Outbreak, Biden Administration Ramps Up Preparedness”
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the current risk to humans remains low, and that pasteurized milk products remain safe to consume. But should human-to-human transmission become commonplace, experts fear a pandemic that could be far more deadly than Covid-19.
On Thursday, the administration said it was committing $306 million toward improving hospital preparedness, early stage research on therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines. About $103 million of that will help maintain state and local efforts to track and test people exposed to infected animals, and for outreach to livestock workers and others at high risk.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/02/us/politics/bird-flu-biden-trump.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“Boston researcher and physician says we’re at ‘DEFCON 3’ for bird flu. Here’s what that means.”
By Abby Patkin
““All told, I think a severe case of H5N1 coming on the cusp of the forthcoming peak of flu season merits an increase in our threat assessment of the overall situation,” Faust wrote in his “Inside Medicine” newsletter Tuesday. “I’d say we are now at the equivalent of DEFCON 3 with H5N1.””
““An emerging potential epidemic demands our attention — and our full resources — when two features start changing for the worse: severity and transmissibility,” Faust explained in a Slate article Tuesday.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.boston.com/news/health/2025/01/03/boston-doc-says-defcon-3-for-bird-flu/
“Will there ever be a bird flu vaccine?”
“Should H5N1 bird flu begin to spread from person to person and lead to a pandemic, an effective vaccine may arrive sooner than later.As part of its pandemic preparedness protocols, the CDC says it routinely develops candidate vaccine viruses (CVVs) that pharmaceutical companies can use to engineer immunizations. The agency has already prepared CVVs closely matching the type of bird flu currently circulating, which “could be used to produce a vaccine for people, if needed.”
https://fortune.com/well/article/bird-flu-h5n1-2024-2025-seasonal-influenza-vaccine
“HHS awards $306 million in Avian Flu monitoring and preparedness funding”
“ASPR will award approximately $183 million in additional funding for regional, state and local preparedness programs:
$90 million to the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP)
$10 million to the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC)
$26 million to the Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers (RESPTCs)
$43 million to the Special Pathogen Treatment Centers (SPTCs) Avian Influenza Preparedness and Response Activities
$14 million to replenish equipment and supply caches for the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS)
CDC will award approximately $111 million in funding for additional enhancements to our ability to monitor H5N1 at the local, state and national levels:
$103 million to jurisdictions for increased monitoring of individuals exposed to infected animals, testing, and outreach to high-risk populations (such as livestock workers)
$8 million to manufacture, store, and distribute additional influenza diagnostic test kits for virologic surveillance
NIH will award approximately $11 million in funding for additional research into potential medical countermeasures for H5N1:
$11 million to the Centers for Excellence for Influenza Research and Response contracts”