U.S. Conditionally Approves Avian Flu Vaccine for Poultry

Vaccine cartel gets closer to realizing its dream of vaccinating 308 million egg laying hens in the U.S., even though leaky vaccines are likely to result in new pathogens.

Science magazine just reported U.S. conditionally approves vaccine to protect poultry from avian flu. As the article states:

With egg prices in the United States soaring because of the spread of H5N1 influenza virus among poultry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) yesterday conditionally approved a vaccine to protect the birds. President Donald Trump’s administration may therefore soon face a fraught decision on whether to join the ranks of other nations—including China, France, Egypt, and Mexico—that vaccinate poultry against H5N1.

Although many influenza researchers contend that vaccination can help control spread of the deadly virus, the U.S. government has long resisted allowing its use because of politics and trade concerns that many contend are unscientific. The USDA approval may signal a shift in policy linked to the Trump administration’s worries about egg prices. Even with the conditional approval, USDA must still approve its use before farmers can start to administer the vaccine because special regulations apply to H5N1 and other so-called highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses.

The vaccine, made by Zoetis, contains a killed version of an H5N2 variant that the company has designed to work against circulating variants of the H5N1 virus that have decimated poultry flocks and have even jumped to cows and some humans.

The article is an expression of how Science has been corrupted by the Vaccine Cartel. In fact, there are substantial reasons for resisting the mass vaccination of poultry. The main one is that poultry vaccines are “leaky”—that is, they do NOT prevent infection and transmission. Their purported benefit lies in the claim that they generate sufficient immunity to prevent the birds from becoming seriously ill.

The trouble with leaky vaccines is that they may promote the emergence of a more virulent strain of H5NI.

As we noted in our paper, Proximal Origin of Epidemic Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 Clade 2.3.4.4b and Spread by Migratory Waterfowl:

According to a 2021 paper titled ‘H5Nx Viruses Emerged during the Suppression of H5N1 Virus Populations in Poultry’ by a research team of the University of Georgia:

"We show that H5Nx viruses emerged during the successful suppression of H5N1 virus populations in poultry [in China], providing an opportunity for antigenically distinct H5Nx viruses to propagate. Avian influenza vaccination programs would benefit from universal vaccines targeting a wider diversity of influenza viruses to prevent the emergence of novel subtypes."

The findings of these researchers present an illustrative case of Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche’s thesis that mass vaccination with non-sterilizing vaccines can result in the emergence of a new, more virulent viral strain. As the University of Georgia team note, “In particular, we show that the widespread use of H5N1 vaccines likely conferred a fitness advantage to H5Nx viruses due to the antigenic mismatch of the neuraminidase genes.”

The emergence of H5NX from leaky vaccines was consistent with a landmark 2015 paper titled Imperfect Vaccination Can Enhance the Transmission of Highly Virulent Pathogens. This academic paper was so remarkable that its findings were also reported in National Geographic report titled Leaky Vaccines Enhance Spread of Deadlier Chicken Viruses.

Rather than authorizing leaky vaccines for U.S. poultry, the USDA should consider allowing the latest clade of H5N1 to run its course so that the birds can acquire natural immunity to it. The practice of mass culling has been a total failure and the new poultry vaccine is equally unlikely to end to the problem, though there is a good chance it will contribute to the emergence of an even more dangerous variant of H5N1.