WHAT SHOULD THE US DO?
Rick Bright, a former top US health official, has been among those calling for the department of agriculture to release more information about bird flu infections among animals.
“There are still just reams of data from this current administration that haven’t been released,” he told the Washington Post on Monday.
The United States has a stockpile of millions of H5N1 vaccine doses, which Bright said should receive the proper authorisation and be offered to at-risk people such as farm workers.
The Biden government has also been urged to encourage companies to develop rapid home tests, such as those widely used to quickly diagnose COVID-19, as well as monitor wastewater for bird flu.
Several of the experts called on Biden to act quickly, before president-elect Trump replaces him in less than two weeks.
There are particular concerns about Trump’s pick for health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy is a sceptic of vaccines, which would be among the most powerful weapons to fend off a potential new pandemic. He is also a known fan of raw milk, which has repeatedly been found to be contaminated with bird flu from infected dairy cows.
