Experts divided on whether cow vaccines could help halt the spread of bird flu in U.S. herds

Could cow vaccines help halt the spread of bird flu in U.S. herds? Experts are divided Could cow vaccines help halt the spread of bird flu in U.S. herds? Experts are divided. Helen Branswell STAT

Multiple animal vaccine manufacturers are reportedly at work trying to develop such products. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture is eagerly encouraging the effort, detailing in a notice last week what kinds of evidence would be needed to win licensing approval for cow vaccines.

But a number of scientists question whether investing too heavily in this strategy is a wise approach at this point, given that there remain many outstanding questions about whether vaccinating cows would be an effective way of stopping spread of the virus in cattle in the first place. Some wonder whether farmers will be willing to absorb the costs of vaccines to prevent an infection they don’t currently view as a serious threat to their operations, or whether they would agree to the stringent post-vaccination surveillance that must go hand-in-glove with any attempt to use vaccines to solve this vexing problem.

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