Vaccine makers like Moderna say they're 'standing ready' for human bird flu ... trends now
Major vaccine companies are preparing avian flu vaccines if the H5N1 virus that has killed millions of animals mutates to infect humans.
Vaccine makers GSK, Moderna, and CSL Seqirus have begun developing new human shots to target the rapidly spreading strain of the virus, while others such as Sanofi have said they have the capacity to churn out a sizable number of shots that target older versions of the virus.
Epidemiologists maintain that the risk to humans is low, but the specter of another pandemic upending hundreds of millions of lives worldwide has kicked scientific investigation into high gear.
The strain currently tearing through bird populations – H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b – has not evolved to infect humans, but it has started spreading at an unprecedented rate in mammals after causing record deaths in birds - raising the prospect of the stain acquiring dangerous mutations.
Tens of thousands of birds suddenly die in coastal Peru and throughout the Americas. Municipal workers collect dead pelicans on Santa Maria beach in Lima, Peru, (Picture dated November 30, 2022)
It has already spilled into mammals like mink, foxes, raccoons and bears, sparking fears it may soon acquire worrying new mutations that would allow it to cause a human pandemic. The seals found in Maine are not reflected in this map
Like all flus, the virus is spread primarily through droplets in the air which are breathed in or get into a person's mouth, eyes or nose
An 11-year-old Cambodian girl made headlines recently when she became the first human to die of bird flu this year.
But Cambodian scientists who sequenced the genomic makeup of the virus have confirmed that the clade that killed her – 2.3.2.1c – is not the one causing mass deaths in wild and domestic birds globally.
Still, the virus’ proven ability to mutate quickly and jump from birds to mammals has begun to worry experts.
