(Washington) The US government announced Thursday $211 million in new funding to develop messenger RNA vaccines against emerging diseases, with the aim of accelerating testing for avian flu.
Posted at 5:45 p.m.
In the United States, 67 people have been infected with bird flu since the start of last year, and fears of a pandemic are growing.
In early January, for the first time, an elderly man died in Louisiana after contracting the H5N1 virus.
For now, the avian flu outbreak is limited to animals. The sixty human cases recorded in the United States, including the death, were caused by direct exposure to an animal and the World Health Organization (WHO) makes it clear that no transmission between humans has been recorded.
But scientists fear that avian flu, coupled with seasonal flu, could mutate into a more contagious form and trigger a deadly pandemic.
The United States had already announced in early January to allocate $306 million in funding to support preparedness and surveillance programs as well as medical research against avian flu.
“This latest investment demonstrates the Biden-Harris administration’s robust response to emerging disease threats like avian flu,” said U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra.
New funding that arrives as Donald Trump takes over from Joe Biden in the White House in four days and his way of handling the threat is worrying.
He chose Robert Kennedy Jr., a notorious vaccine skeptic who has promised to reform health agencies, to the Health Department.
Mr. Kennedy Jr. also promoted raw milk, considered a vector of bird flu.
Several companies are already working on messenger RNA vaccines against avian flu, such as the giants Moderna or Pfizer.
Health authorities have also announced that patients testing positive for influenza A, in particular those hospitalized, would be subject to in-depth tests to find out whether they have contracted avian flu in particular.
Until the death in Louisiana, U.S. cases had been relatively mild. Globally, however, almost half of the 954 human infections with the H5N1 virus recorded since 2003 have been fatal, according to the WHO.
