Items Tagged with 'avian flu'

Amid rising egg prices, USDA will invest $1 billion to combat the avian flu through a multi-pronged approach but will not authorize a vaccine at this time.

House GOP leaders this week will try to hold their narrow majority together on a sweeping budget blueprint that would require at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, which face resistance from some moderate Republicans as well as some in the Senate GOP.

Republicans pushed their skinny budget plan through the Senate early Friday after a nearly 10-hour vote-a-rama that allowed Democrats to force votes on a variety of concerns, including food costs, bird flu and the recent mass firings of government workers. The Senate debate highlighted some major GOP fault lines over spending cuts.

With bird flu shrinking the nation’s egg supply, the National Chicken Council is asking FDA to change its rules and let broiler producers send their surplus eggs for breaking.

The Trump administration is preparing a plan for combatting avian flu that will move away from depopulating infected flocks and rely instead on “biosecurity and medication,” says President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser. Zoetis separately has announced that it has received approval for a vaccine. 

The newly sworn in secretary of agriculture pledged Friday to return the agency to its “core mission” in an address to employees and supporters at the USDA’s headquarters. She also told USDA employees to cooperate with the Department of Government Efficiency initiative led by Elon Musk.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told senators Thursday he would support the development and distribution of avian flu vaccines for people if confirmed as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. But he later qualified that commitment by saying he would not back a specific vaccine before examining the science. 

A surge of highly pathogenic avian influenza cases in dairy cattle and the first death of a person from the virus have refocused attention on the ongoing outbreak, which shows no signs of fading away anytime soon.