> None of us would want a new pandemic labeled the “American virus,” as this could be very damaging for the United States’ reputation and economy.
How touching to be so concerned about US reputation.
H5N1. Avian flu that people have been worried about for decades. There is a vaccine for it, but, of course, low stocks because because it was not mammal transmissible until recently. Minks and cows are known to have caught it. It’s believed to still only be transmissible through ingestion. Given current food practices, it could enter the US food chain similar to ecoli.
> There is a vaccine for it, but, of course, low stocks
Source?
The U.S. is working on a vaccine [1]. Given the human-transmissible virus doesn’t exist, it seems premature to start vaccinating the general population.
[1] https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/php/severe-potential/candidate-...
> The U.S. currently has fewer than five million vaccines matched to the H5N1 strain that is circulating among cattle and occasionally infecting people right now.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-bird-flu-vaccin...
Forgive me, I may be spreading incorrect information. I’m not sure the source I’m quoting, could be that the vaccine I’ve heard mentioned is not for humans? I’ve been hearing rumor of herds of cattle being put down to prevent the spread.
Could also be that the current outbreak doesn’t have a good candidate yet.
Wikipedia seems to think there was a human H5N1 vaccine approved in 2020.
Pretty sure the correct description is: “Fail to deal with bird flu”
Holy schmoley again?
Probably not at the level of COVID. A vaccine exists, but mass production needs to ramp up, preferably before human-to-human transmission occurs.
In contrast, with COVID, vaccination efforts against SARS had been abandoned in the mid-2010s due to budget cuts, and we had to start fighting the virus with nothing but isolation and hygiene measures until a vaccine was available ~14-18 months in.