Alarming Bird flu continues spread as Trumps pandemic experts are MIA Vacancies in a key office of pandemic preparedness raise concern. Beth Mole Mar 19, 2025 6:28 pm | 0 Chickens stand in a barn in Sheffield, Illinois. Credit: Getty | Bloomberg Chickens stand in a barn in Sheffield, Illinois. Credit: Getty | Bloomberg Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreAs bird flu continues to rampage in dairy farms and poultry facilities around the country, the office tasked with coordinating the federal government's response to pandemic threats, including bird flu, has been sidelined by President Trump and sits nearly empty, according to CNN.The White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR)established by a Congressional statute in 2022 in response to failures during the COVID-19 pandemicused to include a staff of about around 20 people. Now, only one staffer remains, and it's unclear who they report to. The OPPR director has been moved to the National Security Council (NSC).The report on the vacancies comes amid other moves that call into question the country's ability to respond to a pandemic threat under the Trump administration. The USDA has shifted its response to the ongoing bird flu outbreak away from the health threat. For instance, in late February, agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins touted a $1 billion effort to combat bird flu as a "strategy to deliver affordable eggs."Meanwhile, health secretary and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suggested that poultry farmers should let the virus run rampant through flocks rather than safely cull them, which is currently required. Farmers "should consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds, and preserve the birds, that are immune to it," Kennedy, who has no health or science background, said during an interview on Fox News.Rollins seemed to be open to the concerning idea, telling the outlet last month: "There are some farmers that are out there that are willing to really try this on a pilot as we build the safe perimeter around them to see if there is a way forward with immunity."The idea was quickly bashed by experts, who noted it would be inhumane, a massive risk for farm workers, and worsen the economic hit to farmers, who would have to keep facilities closed down longer for the infection to spread naturally than if they quickly carried out controlled culls. Moreover, letting the virus spread uncontrollably in thousands or even millions of birds gives the virus countless opportunities to evolve and become more virulent.Such a scenario is suspected to have happened recently at a poultry farm in Mississippi. This week, the USDA announced finding a new type of bird flu in a boiler chicken breeder flock: a highly pathogenic avian influenza H7N9. So far, the H7 strains seen circulating in wild birds this year have been low pathogenicity, the USDA reported. But in the 46,000-bird flock in Mississippi, the virus was lethal. Experts told the LA Times that it's likely that the previously mild virus spread from wild birds into the breeder flockwhich live much longer than birds grown for meatand, over some time, the virus developed deadly features while preying on the captive poultry.Alarming to everyoneSince 2022, over 166 million US poultry have been affected by the bird flu. The highly pathogenic virus has also spread to 989 dairy herds in 17 states since March of last year. So far, at least 70 people have contracted the virus, and one has died.The coordination of the response to the ongoing threat is now in question. Under the Biden administration, the Health and Human Services Department used to hold regular press briefings on the state of the outbreak and the response. However, since Trump took office, there have been no briefings.Under the Biden administration, OPPR also worked behind the scenes. At the time, it was directed by Paul Friedrichs, a physician and retired Air Force major general. Friedrichs told CNN that the OPPR regularly hosted interagency calls between the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the USDA, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, the US Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. When the H5N1 bird flu outbreak erupted in dairy farms last March, OPPR was hosting daily meetings, which transitioned to weekly meetings toward the end of the administration."At the end of the day, bringing everybody together and having those meetings was incredibly important, so that we had a shared set of facts," Friedrichs said. "When decisions were made, everyone understood why the decision was made, what facts were used to inform the decision."Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who co-wrote the bill that created OPPR with former Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), is concerned by Trump's sidelining of the office."Under the last administration, OPPR served, as intended, as the central hub coordinating a whole-of-government response to pandemic threats, she said in a written statement to CNN. "While President Trump cannot legally disband OPPR, as he has threatened to do, it is deeply concerning that he has moved the statutorily created OPPR into the NSC.""As intended by law, OPPR is a separate, distinct office for a reason, which is especially relevant now as we are seeing outbreaks of measles, bird flu, and other serious and growing threats to public health," Murray wrote. "This should be alarming to everyone."Beth MoleSenior Health ReporterBeth MoleSenior Health Reporter Beth is Ars Technicas Senior Health Reporter. Beth has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the Science Communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in covering infectious diseases, public health, and microbes. 0 Comments