Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the Department of Health and Human Services advises against vaccinated poultry as American farmers struggle to contain the devastating avian flu outbreak that has skyrocketed egg prices.
In an interview with Sean Hannity, host of Fox News, Kennedy explained that his main concern with chicken inoculation is that if the vaccine does not completely prevent infection, it will help create new variants of avian influenza that are likely to infect humans.
“All my agencies advise against vaccinating birds because if you are vaccinated with a leaky vaccine, in other words, a vaccine that does not provide sterile immunity, which will never protect you from disease, so we will turn those flocks into mutation factories,” the HHS secretary said Tuesday.
“If you do that, you're much more likely to jump on an animal,” Kennedy argued, saying the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration “say you shouldn't get vaccinated.”
“It's dangerous for humans to vaccinate birds.”
Kennedy's warning comes after Brooke Rollins announced last month that the USDA would do so Spending $100 million on vaccine research Fighting the avian flu as part of a billion-dollar strategy to control the effects of the disease.
“The Biden administration has done little to deal with the repeated outbreaks that followed and high egg prices. In contrast, the Trump administration is taking this issue seriously,” Rollins said last month. “American farmers need bailouts, American consumers need affordable food. To all families struggling to buy eggs: we hear you, we're fighting for you, and help is approaching.”
When a flock of poultry contracts avian flu, the birds are usually culled by farmers to prevent the spread of the disease.
This practice has caused a lack of eggs and a rise in prices.
The average cost of a dozen eggs rose to a record $4.95 last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Most of our scientists are against the operation of the cul station,” Kennedy said. “They think we should test therapies in those flocks. They need to be separated. You should let go of the disease with them and identify the surviving birds. It's a bird that is probably a bird that has a genetic tendency to immunity.”
“And they should be birds we breed, like wild populations.”
“We killed 166 million chickens, which is why we have an egg crisis,” Kennedy told Hannity, noting that bird flu is not transmitted through eggs or food.
The HHS secretary also spoke about the outbreak of measles in Texas, which has been identified since late January, resulting in 223 cases of the disease, resulting in 29 hospitalizations and the death of one school-age child. State Authority.
Kennedy said he spoke to the families of the children killed in the outbreak, but condemned the unvaccinated group and the measles vaccine itself.
“There were 16 measles outbreaks last year, and there were hundreds over the years. There are measles outbreaks every year, some of which mean that not only some people don't get vaccinated, but the vaccine itself also declines,” he said, claiming that over time the vaccines become less effective and that older people are more susceptible to the disease.
“It used to be when you and I were kids. Everyone got measles and gave me lifelong protection against measles. The vaccine doesn't,” Kennedy said. “This vaccine is effective for some people in their lives, but it's declining in many.”
He also said the vaccine “doesn't appear to provide maternal immunity.” This means that unvaccinated breastfeeding is not receiving protection provided by the mother.
“So you're now watching measles hit very young children and hit elderly people with vaccines declining,” explained RFK Jr. “And that's something we need to worry about and we're looking at HHS.”
Despite concerns about the vaccine, Kennedy said HHS is offering Vitamin A to Texas as it tries to contain the outbreak.
The HHS secretary also encouraged people to shoot measles.
“All we need to do is give [people] The best information and they encourage vaccinations,” he said. “The vaccine will stop spreading disease.”
