https://www.nature.com/articles/438406b

This is from 2005

China claims to be well on the way towards vaccinating every domestic bird in the country against avian flu. The bold scheme — which would mean inoculating some 14 billion birds — was announced on 15 November and comes in response to outbreaks that animal-health officials say are dangerously widespread. On 16 November, China confirmed its first two human cases of bird flu, one of which was fatal.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8327827/

A new strain developed in 2013 and was essentially eradicated by developing a new vaccine for the birds.

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Why aren't we doing so in the US??? We have an effective vaccine!

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24155545/bird-flu-vaccines-h5n1-avian-flu-cows

However, despite seemingly having an effective vaccine in hand, as of late April, the USDA is still not pursuing bird flu vaccination as a disease control strategy. “While USDA is exploring the possibility of developing a poultry H5N1 vaccine to stock and use in an emergency, we are not moving forward with a HPAI vaccination program at this time,”

The biggest sticking point is around trade. The US exported more than $5 billion in poultry meat and products on average every year for the past three years. The USDA enters into trade agreements with each individual country it trades with, explained Upali Galketi Aratchilage, a senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Each agreement outlines specific biosafety and production requirements that both countries agree to follow. The USDA said, in an email to Vox, that many of those agreements do not allow bird flu vaccination.

Every single bird that is infected gives the virus another million chances to mutate into something 100x worse than COVID. And we are not doing it because of the fucking cost to GDP.

  • booty [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    Because Americans don't believe in disease until they are literally witnessing it firsthand at which point they become absolutely certain that there was never anything they could have done about it

    And then after the disease's host is cured or dead, they go back to not believing in disease at all

    If it's not happening right in front of them right at this exact moment it isn't real.

    • Sulvor [he/him, undecided]M
      ·
      2 months ago

      I mean that's your average burgerlander, but I think the reality is much worse

      In 2023, the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service began testing five vaccine candidates. According to the USDA’s website, studies show the candidates provided near 100 percent clinical protection in chickens. (The USDA has also started to “assess the potential to develop” an H5N1 vaccine for cows.) The USDA has not released further information about the clinical trials.

      We have vaccines, but they won't do it because it would cost money.

    • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
      ·
      2 months ago

      Because Americans don't believe in disease until they are literally witnessing it firsthand

      50% chance they don't believe it then either

      • GenderIsOpSec [she/her]
        ·
        2 months ago

        I'm reminded of those people slowly drowning in their own mucus lying in a hospital bed and still not believing that covid was real

        • Ivysaur [she/her]
          ·
          2 months ago

          Happened to my mother who was a worker in 2020. Said she saw people die of Covid who would not believe they had it. Their families wouldn’t, either. Now when they die of Covid even the hospitals say it’s something else to deny it. I don’t know how to not be doomer about this tbh.

    • SkingradGuard [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      2 months ago

      Because Americans don't believe in disease until they are literally witnessing it firsthand at which point they become absolutely certain that there was never anything they could have done about it

      The angloid mind believes in one thing: "only things that effect me personally, matter. Screw everyone else."