Can We Vaccinate Birds?

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Most cases where humans have contracted avian flu, including a recent one in the US from this current outbreak, were exposed to sick birds. According to the CDC, the US already has a stockpile of H5N1 vaccines. But what's interesting is that the US does not use vaccines right now on its commercial flocks of birds for a number of reasons. It would take a lot more for it to reach anything close to pandemic potential.

Poultry farmers are in flock-down. The bird flu known as H5N1 is being called “the largest foreign animal disease outbreak in US history.” Vox’s Benji Jones and Johns Hopkins University researcher Tom Philpott say the virus underscores the poultry industry’s shortcomings.

This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Noel King.

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