As a bird flu outbreak continues to run rampant through US poultry farms, pushing eggs to record-high prices, federal officials announced funding for avian influenza research projects, including money for new vaccine projects and potential treatments.
The US agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, said on Thursday that her department would invest $100m in these research efforts, as part of a $1bn initiative to fight bird flu and stop rising egg prices, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.
The funds will prioritize research into bird flu generally and biosecurity plans. “Our pilot programs have proven that biosecurity is the most important thing that our farmers can do to protect our flocks against the disease, at least right now,” the news outlet quoted Rollins as saying.
While Rollins underscored that there were no approved vaccines to prevent bird flu, she reportedly said: “I do look forward to this next process of learning more, getting more research done and perhaps seeing what makes sense for the country moving forward, once that is concluded.”
The agriculture department announced on Wednesday that its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) was ramping up biosecurity evaluations. This expansion of assessments includes poultry farms that have not been affected by avian flu.
Rollins said her department’s multifaceted approach has already shown “significant progress” in combating high wholesale egg prices. One dozen large white-shell eggs were selling for $8 wholesale in February but are now $4.15, the department reportedly said.
Rollins also said that agriculture officials had brokered agreements with Turkey and South Korea to import more eggs into the US. She also said that the US was speaking with another nation about bringing in a “significant” amount of eggs.
The announcement follows staffing issues at the department. Agriculture officials said in late February that they had accidentally fired several staffers who were working on bird flu response and were trying to reverse these terminations.
The accidental cuts came amid Donald Trump’s demand for a massive downsizing of the federal workforce. A department spokesperson said that several jobs were exempt from proposed cuts, according to NBC News.
Potential funding for vaccine and treatment research also came as top US health official Robert F Kennedy Jr suggested that farmers “should consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds, and preserve the birds, that are immune to it”.
This pitch from Kennedy – who espouses widely debunked beliefs about modern medicine, including the false claim that vaccines are linked to autism – has prompted criticism from scientists.
“That’s a really terrible idea, for any one of a number of reasons,” Dr Gail Hansen, a former state veterinarian for Kansas, told the New York Times.
Each infection is an opportunity for the bird flu to mutate into a more powerful form – potentially one that could spread between people. Moreover, unchecked infections endanger farm workers and non-poultry animals.
“So now you’re setting yourself up for bad things to happen,” Hansen reportedly said. “It’s a recipe for disaster.”
Rollins had previously expressed support for this idea.
“There are some farmers that are out there that are willing to really try this on a pilot as we build the safe perimeter around them to see if there is a way forward with immunity,” Rollins said on Fox News in February, according to the Times.
