CDC investing $10M into bird flu response among farmworkers

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investing a collective $10 million into the federal bird flu response among livestock workers, with the agency maintaining the risk to general public remains low.

During a Tuesday press call, health officials said nine cases of bird flu have been confirmed in Colorado so far, with three detected last week. The symptoms were described as mild, with pink eye being the primary one.

Nirav Shah, principal deputy director at CDC, said his agency is investing $5 million for “partner organizations to focus on outreach and education efforts for farmworker health and safety.”

The bulk of this investment — $4 million — will go to the nonprofit National Center For Farmworker Health. The group will provide training and information about the H5N1 virus to community-based organizations in affected states and help to increase access to testing, which has lagged in the months since the first human cases were detected this year.

Another $5 million will be invested in seasonal influenza vaccines for livestock workers during this year’s respiratory viral season. The agency is aiming to prevent potential co-infections of both the influenza virus and bird flu, and also to “reduce the risk of new versions of the influenza A virus emerging,” according to Shah.

The annual flu shot that many people take, and which will be provided to farmworkers through this CDC investment, does not provide cross-protection against H5N1. States affected by bird flu will develop their own vaccination plans with the funding and help of CDC.

A senior administration official noted that there are an estimated 200,000 livestock workers in the U.S. Given the national flu shot uptake is around 47 percent, they said they would like the rate of immunization among farmworkers to be higher than that.