In the area of bird flu, when the Trump Administration took over earlier this year, the priority was moved from culling all infected birds to developing a vaccination. Washington State Veterinarian Dr. Amber Itle says it’s important to remember what vaccines do and don’t do.

“So, just like all of us, we get the flu vaccine or COVID vaccine, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get infected. It just means that we might not get quite as sick. So, one of the things that we have to do is, if we use a vaccine in the United States, we still have to be able to detect the virus in a vaccinated flock. So having a DIVA vaccine that can differentiate the two, that’s just one of the many issues.”

Itle noted that another vital consideration is that you can’t develop a vaccine that benefits one commodity at the expense of another.

“You know, another conversation has been around vaccinating dairy cattle, which I think that’s a good thing to start thinking about. So, if we have naive herds like here in Washington state, I’d like to see that we have an option for a vaccine because it does two things: 1.) cows wouldn’t get as sick and 2.) cows would be less likely to shed and spread and infect another herd. So, that’s really what we would be using it for from a control strategy in dairy cattle.”

Itle says her goal, and the goal of the health community at large, is to ensure animals are taken care of, but more importantly that humans are taken care of.