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Although a candidate bird flu vaccine has not yet become commercially available, medical experts advise that people get it as soon as it becomes available.
Dr. Linda Yancey, an expert in infectious diseases and internal medicine at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, told FOX Business that the shot will be critical in protecting people and those around them against highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A (H5N1 virus), otherwise known as bird flu.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said “The US government is developing vaccines against avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses in case they are needed.”
According to the CDC, human infections with HPAI A (H5N1) virus are rare, but unprotected exposure to an infected animal or to an environment in which infected birds or other animals are or have been increases the risk of infection.
According to the CDC, avian influenza virus in wild birds caused outbreaks among commercial poultry and backyard flocks and has spread to wild and domestic mammals. Since 1997, there have been sporadic human infections in 23 countries, with a fatality rate of more than 50%. But only a few human cases have been reported since 2022. Most infections occur after close contact with sick or dead infected poultry or exposure to dairy cattle during ongoing outbreaks of H5N1.
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Those at highest risk for bird flu — poultry workers, dairy and cattle farmers — are told to wear protective clothing, including an N95 mask, gloves and eye protection, to reduce the chance of exposure.
Earlier this week, concerns about the virus grew when a patient in Louisiana died after being hospitalized with the first human case of bird flu. Officials from the Louisiana Department of Health confirmed that the patient was infected with H5N1 after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds. It marked the first bird flu-related death.
Yancey said the virus is very concerning because it has a high mortality rate and has already spread from birds to mammals.
“We know that it’s only a few mutations away from being able to spread from person to person, which is why we’ve gone ahead and started developing a vaccine,” Yancey said. She believes this will either “die out because we’re actively watching for this… or it’ll change, and it’ll spread and affect the population.”
Earlier this week, concerns about the virus grew when a patient in Louisiana died after being hospitalized with the first human case of bird flu. (Mary Kang/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
New York-based emergency room physician Dr. Robert Glatter, told FOX Business that people should be “vigilant.”
With “bird flu circulating among birds and other mammals, including dairy cattle and pigs, the chances of a ‘reshuffle event’ increase the probability of a genetic mutation that is very problematic,” he said.
A “reassortment event” occurs when two different viruses exchange genetic material, creating a new virus with a mixture of traits from both. This happens often in viruses like the flu and can lead to new strains.
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Yancey said it shouldn’t take long for a new vaccine to be developed.
“All we have to do is make this new strain, which is something we do literally every flu season. Every flu season, we have a new flu vaccine for the strains that are circulating that season. So all we have to do is what we do is to make this new strain”, she added.
Newly hatched chicken eggs in baskets before being washed and packed for sale at a farm in Pleasureville, Kentucky. (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
In July 2024, Moderna was awarded $176 million by the US government to develop an mRNA-based vaccine that could be used to treat bird flu in humans.
Glatter said the development of bird flu vaccines “is essential at this time in light of the recent deaths,” and when approved, he believes patients at highest risk for adverse outcomes — those with lung and heart disease, disease chronic kidney disease, cancer patients and those with autoimmune conditions – should be the initial recipients. Then, it should be expanded to lower-risk patients, he said.
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Right now, the best way for people to protect themselves is to get the seasonal flu shot. Seasonal influenza vaccination “reduces the potential for a human being to be infected with both avian and human influenza viruses. It also reduces the chance of human influenza strains spreading to animals such as pigs.”
This ultimately lowers the chances of a “reshuffle event”.
