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Biden Administration Has No Current Plans to Authorize a Bird Flu Vaccine for Humans
Biden administration officials said Wednesday they have no current plans to authorize a stockpiled bird flu vaccine, despite an escalating outbreak among livestock in the U.S. and at least 58 human infections across seven states. The move means any decisions about a bird flu vaccine will likely be left to health officials in the incoming Trump administration, who may be led by anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Trump has picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
The virus has been spreading in dairy cows since the spring and had infected at least 774 herds in 16 states as of Wednesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last Friday, the Agriculture Department stepped up its response to the outbreak, issuing a federal order mandating testing of the national milk supply.
Only a Third of U.S. Kids Have Gotten Flu Shots, Data Reveal
Despite a record number of American children dying from the flu last year, the percentage of kids getting their flu shots keeps falling. In new data posted this week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 37% of kids had received the vaccine as of Nov. 30 — down from 43% at the same time last year.
This decline is raising concerns among pediatricians, who are already seeing an uptick in flu cases this season. For the entirety of the last flu season, just over half of children — 55% — received the flu shot, marking the lowest rate in 12 years.
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Study Shows Growing Gap in Child Vaccine Rates in England
Inequalities in childhood vaccination are widening in England, with uptake rates of five key vaccines consistently lower in young children living in areas of higher deprivation from 2019 to 2023, finds a study published by The BMJ. The researchers say vaccine uptake was below the World Health Organization’s recommended 95% target for all vaccinations studied and call for urgent action to strengthen systems for childhood vaccination.
Protecting children from vaccine preventable diseases is a fundamental public health priority. The vaccination schedule in England protects children against 15 diseases including measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, pneumonia and meningitis.
Records show that uptake rates of childhood vaccinations in England have been steadily declining over the past decade but few studies have looked at trends in inequalities.
Siga’s Smallpox Antiviral Tpoxx Misses the Mark in Another Mpox Study
It’s déjà vu for Siga Technologies and its smallpox antiviral Tpoxx. At an interim analysis of a second mpox trial, the drug again missed the mark on a key measure of disease resolution. In patients with the clade 2 mpox strain, Tpoxx failed to demonstrate efficacy on the endpoint of time to skin and mucosal lesion reduction, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) reported this week. The trial enrolled patients with mild to moderate cases of mpox.
Based on the findings and the recommendation of the trial’s data monitoring board, NIAID ended enrollment in the randomized arms of the study. The agency further closed enrollment in the open-label arm, which enrolled severe mpox patients and those at risk of developing severe disease.
