Bird flu vaccine: What to know

Although a candidate bird flu vaccine has not yet been made commercially available, medical experts advise that people should get it once it is. 

Dr. Linda Yancey, an expert in infectious diseases and internal medicine at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, told FOX Business that the shot will be critical in protecting people and those around them against the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A (H5N1) virus, otherwise known as bird flu.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the "U.S. government is developing vaccines against avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses in case they are needed."

According to the CDC, human infections with HPAI A (H5N1) virus are rare, but having unprotected exposure to any infected animal or to an environment in which infected birds or other infected animals are or have been increases the risk of infection.  

The bird flu virus in wild birds caused outbreaks among commercial poultry and backyard flocks, and has spread to wild and domestic mammals, according to the CDC. Since 1997, there have been sporadic human infections in 23 countries, with a fatality rate of more than 50%. But only a few human cases have been reported since 2022. Most infections occur after close contact with sick or dead infected poultry or exposure to dairy cattle during ongoing H5N1 outbreaks.

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Persons at higher risk for bird flu — poultry workers, dairy and cattle farmers — are told to wear protective clothing, including an N95 mask, gloves and eye protection, to reduce the potential for exposure. 

Earlier this week, concerns over the virus grew when a patient in Louisiana died after being hospitalized with the first human case of bird flu. Officials from the Louisiana Department of Health confirmed that the patient had contracted H5N1 after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds. It marked the first bird flu-related death. 

Yancey said the virus is very concerning, given that it has a high mortality rate and has already spread from birds to mammals. 

"We know that it's only a couple of mutations away from being able to spread from person to person, which is why we have gone ahead and started the development of a vaccine," Yancey said. She believes this will either "fizzle out because we are actively surveilling this… or it's going to mutate, and it's going to spread, and it's going to affect the population." 

New York City-based emergency room physician Dr. Robert Glatter told FOX Business that people need to be "vigilant." 

With "the circulation of avian influenza among birds and other mammals, including dairy cattle and pigs, the odds of a ‘reassortment event’ elevate the probability of a genetic mutation which is highly problematic," he said.

A "reassortment event" occurs when two different viruses swap genetic material, creating a new virus with a mix of traits from both. This often happens in viruses like the flu and can lead to new strains.

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Yancey said it shouldn't take too long for a new vaccine to be created. 

"All we have to do is do this new strain, which is something that we do literally every flu season. Every flu season, we have a new flu vaccine for the strains circulating that season. So, all we have to do is do this new strain," she added. 

In July 2024, Moderna was awarded $176 million from the U.S. government to develop an mRNA-based vaccine that could be used to treat bird flu in humans.

Glatter said that the development of bird flu vaccines "is essential at this time in light of the recent death" and when it does get approved, he believes that patients at higher risk for adverse outcomes — those with lung and heart disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer patients and those with autoimmune conditions — should be the initial recipients. Afterward, it should be expanded to lower-risk patients, he said. 

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For the time being, the best way for people to protect themselves is to get the seasonal flu vaccine. The seasonal influenza vaccination "reduces the potential of a human being coinfected with both the bird and human flu viruses. It also reduces the chance of spreading human flu strains to animals such as pigs." 

This ultimately lowers the chances of a "reassortment event."