Biden administration officials said Wednesday they have no current plans to authorize a stockpiled bird flu vaccine, despite an escalating outbreak among livestock in the U.S. and at least 58 human infections across seven states. Almost all bird flu cases in the U.S. have been in farmworkers who have had contact with infected animals — either dairy cows or poultry — aside from a patient in Missouri and a child in California. The federal government has two bird flu vaccine candidates available in limited quantities in the nation’s Strategic National Stockpile, though they need to be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration before they can be used. Still, some public health experts believe the time for vaccination is now, particularly for farmworkers. In 1976, at the first signs of an H1N1 swine flu outbreak in the U.S., public health officials quickly initiated a nationwide vaccine campaign.

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Persons: Trump, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Nirav Shah, ” Shah, ”, “, farmworkers, Jennifer Nuzzo, Shah, William Schaffner, Schaffner, Keith Poulsen, it’s, ” Poulsen, Nuzzo, Poulsen Organizations: Biden, Department of Health, Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, Department of Agriculture, USDA, Food and Drug Administration, Pandemic, Brown University School of Public Health, Administration, Strategic Preparedness, HHS, FDA, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Trump, CDC, Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Locations: U.S, farmworkers, Missouri, California, Canada, Barre, Wisconsin