CDC to offer seasonal flu shots to farmworkers amid bird flu outbreak | CPT PPP Coverage

Thirteen farmworkers have been infected in the outbreak. All had mild symptoms and recovered.

Even though the federal government has 4.8 million doses of H5N1 bird flu vaccine, officials are not recommending the new vaccine because those infected have experienced mild symptoms, the virus is not being transmitted between people and the virus is not being spread asymptomatically.

Some public health experts have argued for vaccinating U.S. farmworkers against bird flu. Among the 13 U.S. workers infected in the outbreak this year, nine were workers culling infected birds on two Colorado poultry farms. Finland has said it plans to offer preemptive vaccination against bird flu to some workers with exposure to animals.

Pressed Tuesday about why poultry workers at highest risk of contracting bird flu are not being given the H5N1 vaccine, Shah said discussions about the possibility are ongoing. “I don’t think we ought to look at introduction of a new vaccine through the lens of why not,” he said. “There has to be a strong and compelling case to do something. Particularly since this is a new vaccine where uptake may be unknown.”

The CDC is also awarding $5 million to community organizations such as the National Center for Farmworker Health for outreach and education efforts.

The CDC will buy the seasonal flu shots and states can order them as needed. The shots will be administered through state health departments and community organizations at farms, churches, community centers and other places workers gather.

Shah said there will be enough shots to vaccinate every livestock worker in the country if they want to. But less than half of the U.S. population typically gets the seasonal flu shot every year.