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Trump and Biden Officials Begin Talks on Bird Flu Crisis
Amid an escalating bird flu outbreak spreading in the U.S., federal health officials have begun to brief members of the incoming Trump administration about how they’ve responded to the crisis so far. “We sent them all of the information on our work,” said a Biden administration health official familiar with transition briefings within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It’s the first indication that the two administrations appear to be working together to prioritize the H5N1 response. Until now, it was unclear whether the Biden White House and Trump’s incoming health team had discussed bird flu in any transition meetings.
A lack of coordination between the two groups would have huge consequences, public health officials and infectious disease experts warn. They worry that the H5N1 virus has the potential to set off another human pandemic.
No, We’re Not ‘One Mutation Away’ From an H5N1 Bird Flu Pandemic. Here Are the Facts
In early December 2024, a group of researchers published an article in the journal Science, entitled “A single mutation in bovine influenza H5N1 hemagglutinin switches specificity to human receptors.” Some media outlets somewhat exaggeratedly took this to mean that we are one mutation away from bird flu “becoming the next COVID.”
There are currently no documented cases of human-to-human transmission of bird flu, also known as avian flu H5N1, though there is concern that the virus, which has spread among farm cows in the U.S., may mutate and spread to humans, leading to a flu pandemic.
For the avian flu virus to be transmitted from one human to another, it would first have to develop the ability to successfully attach itself to human receptors. The aforementioned study did not identify a specific H5N1 isolate currently circulating in the real world. It was an experimental in vitro test that, via a range of different laboratory techniques, introduced mutations at a specific point in the HA protein of the H5N1 virus, and then assessed how they bound to the human-type receptor.
Childhood Vaccination Rates, a Health Bright Spot in Struggling States, Are Slipping
Jen Fisher can do only so much to keep her son safe from the types of infections that children can encounter at school. The rest, she said, is up to other students and parents in their hometown of Franklin, Tennessee. Fisher’s son Raleigh, 12, lives with a congenital heart condition, which has left him with a weakened immune system.
For his protection, Raleigh has received all the recommended vaccines for a child his age. But even with his vaccinations, a virus that might only sideline another child could sicken him and land him in the emergency room, Fisher said. For much of Raleigh’s life, Fisher could take comfort in the high childhood vaccination rate in Tennessee — a public health bright spot in a conservative state with poor health outcomes and one of the shortest life expectancies in the nation.
Mississippi and West Virginia, two similarly conservative states with poor health outcomes and short life expectancies, also have some of the highest vaccination rates for kindergartners in the nation — a seeming contradiction that stems from the fact that childhood vaccination requirements don’t always align with states’ other characteristics, said James Colgrove, a Columbia University professor who studies factors that influence public health.
“The kinds of policies that states have don’t map neatly on to “red” versus “blue” or one region or another,” Colgrove said. Advocates, doctors, public health officials, and researchers worry such public health bright spots in some states are fading: Many states have recently reported an increase in people opting out of vaccines for their kids as Americans’ views shift.
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Vaccinating Toddlers Too Early, Too Late Has Decreased Over Time
Vaccine doses given to U.S. toddlers outside the recommended age or timing intervals have decreased over time, but still don’t complete the vaccine series for many children, researchers found. In an analysis of The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) immunization data from 2011 through 2020, 15.4% of children ages 35 months and younger had an invalid vaccine dose, defined as younger than the minimum age, sooner than the recommended interval between vaccinations, or older than the maximum age, reported Alexandria Albers, MPH, MS, of the University of Montana in Missoula, and colleagues in Pediatrics.
However, the percentage of tots with an invalid dose decreased from 16.9% in 2011 to 12.5% in 2020 (OR 0.98 for survey year, 95% CI 0.97-0.99). And the proportion who received extra doses and completed the series increased over that period from 29.5% in 2011 to reach 52.9% in 2020 (OR 1.1 for survey year, 95% CI 1.07-1.12).
When kids are dosed in an invalid way, the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, recommends repeating vaccinations to meet guidelines, Albers and colleagues noted. “Invalid doses that are not repeated may leave children vulnerable to VPDs [vaccine-preventable diseases] and contribute to lowered disease protection in communities.
Biden Health Officials Say They Built up US Pandemic Defenses. Trump Promises Changes
The Biden administration on Tuesday released a “roadmap” for maintaining government defenses against infectious diseases, just as President-elect Donald Trump pledges to dismantle some of them.
The 16-page report recaps steps taken in the last four years against COVID-19, mpox and other diseases, including vaccination efforts and the use of wastewater and other measures to spot signs of erupting disease outbreaks. It’s a public version of a roughly 300-page pandemic-prevention playbook that Biden officials say they are providing to the incoming administration.
Biden officials touted the steps they took to halt or prevent disease threats, but some public health researchers offer a more mixed assessment of the administration’s efforts. Several experts, for example, said not nearly enough has been done to make sure an expanding bird flu pandemic in animals doesn’t turn into a global health catastrophe for people.
“Overwhelmingly you’ve heard a lot of frustration by outside experts that we’ve been under-reacting to what we see as really serious threat,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health.
Vaccine Hesitancy Among Pet Owners Is Growing — A Public Health Expert Explains Why That Matters
When most people think about vaccines, they typically think about humans: Experts warn that when large numbers of people are unvaccinated, it can lead to severe consequences, including disease outbreaks and higher rates of illness and death, particularly among the most vulnerable. The economic costs to society can also be substantial.
However, vaccines also provide important protections for our nonhuman companions, including the most common pets: dogs and cats. Yet, as my research published in 2024 in the American Journal of Veterinary Research and the journal Vaccine indicates, vaccine hesitancy is beginning to spill over into some people’s decisions about whether to vaccinate their pets.
Mpox Clade I in the U.S. Should Be a Wake-up Call
Madad is a chief biopreparedness officer. Kindrachuk is an associate professor in medical microbiology and infectious diseases, and a research chair in the molecular pathogenesis of emerging viruses. Rimoin is a professor of epidemiology.
The detection of the first clade I mpox case in the U.S. this November, followed by a subsequent case in Canada, is far more than a fleeting headline. It is a stark reminder of the interconnectedness of global health.
Clade I mpox, a public health emergency of international concern concentrated in Central and Eastern Africa, has already caused more than 57,000 suspected cases and more than 1,200 deaths in 2024 alone. Travel-associated cases have now extended to Europe, Asia, and North America, with the first U.S. case linked to travel from an endemic region.
