A bipartisan group of U.S. senators urged the Trump administration to lock in a science-based plan for developing a bird flu vaccine for livestock, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.
The message lands as infections rise again during winter and pressure builds on federal agencies to move faster.
Since 2022, more than 180 mn chickens, turkeys, and other poultry have been culled as avian influenza spread across the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in June that it was working on a potential poultry vaccination strategy. Details never followed.
23 senators asked Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to take what they called renewed action.
The letter, sent Wednesday and first reported by Reuters, frames vaccination planning as increasingly urgent as outbreaks intensify.
The effort is led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune also signed, along with several other Democrats and Republicans on the committee. Broad backing. Limited patience.
The senators said any final vaccine strategy must reflect input from animal health experts and industry stakeholders and rest on solid science. That phrasing wasn’t accidental.
According to Beinsure analysts, lawmakers are signaling concern that policy drift and politics are slowing technical decisions.
In March, USDA committed $100 mn toward vaccine and therapeutic research for egg-laying chickens as part of a wider bird flu response. Egg prices had surged to record levels.
The agency said in June it received 417 proposals for the funding. Since then, silence.
The administration has moved in the opposite direction on human vaccines. In May, it canceled a $700 mn contract with Moderna to develop a human bird flu vaccine.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., long critical of vaccines, has cut other research funding and rolled back federal vaccine guidance that had stood for decades.
Vaccination remains contentious within the poultry industry. Some producers worry that widespread use could trigger export restrictions from trading partners.
The senators acknowledged that risk and urged USDA to work closely with both producers and foreign governments to assess trade consequences before finalizing any plan.
USDA told Reuters in late November that it had not yet shared a poultry vaccination strategy with trading partners. Winter outbreaks continue. So does the gap between warning and action.
