Trump Administration Moving Away from Depopulation for Bird Flu

The Trump administration is preparing to move away from depopulating entire flocks infected by bird flu. The focus will instead be on biosecurity and medication to contain the outbreaks. Reuters reported last week that the USDA has given conditional approval to Zoetis to use its bird flu vaccine in poultry. Zoetis, which deals with vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics for animals, said the conditional license was granted based on safety and a reasonable expectation of efficacy. A conditional approval, also called a conditional license, is used for emergencies, limited market availability, or other special circumstances and is only issued for a certain period. Last month, USDA committed to rebuilding a stockpile of bird flu vaccines for poultry that match the strain of virus circulating in commercial flocks and wild birds. Moderna is developing a bird flu vaccine for humans and received a large government grant for its advancement.

Source: NAFB