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The rapid spread and mutation of a deadly bird flu virus in the United States warrants urgent global action on pandemic preparedness to close dangerous gaps in the world’s ability to develop and deliver new protective vaccines, flu and disease outbreak specialists are warning.

In a, ����VR��Ƶ’s Executive Director for Preparedness and Response Dr Nicole Lurie and six other experts said the bird flu virus – known as H5N1 and known to be very severe in some human cases—had in recent years crossed species from birds to mammals, including dairy cattle, and was now causing widespread exposure and sporadic human infections in the U.S. and beyond.  At least one person has died from H5N1 infection in the U.S., and a teenager in Canada suffered critical illness before eventually recovering. 

“Pandemic preparedness initiatives should be urgently resourced and implemented,” they wrote. “Enhancing readiness now can save lives and reduce societal and economic disruption if H5N1 or another outbreak becomes a pandemic.” 

H5N1 bird flu has infected nearly 70 people in the United States since April 2024, one of whom died.  It has affected more than 165 million chickens, turkeys and other birds across almost all states since the outbreak began in poultry in 2022 and has been detected in more than 970 herds of cattle and dairy cows across 17 states.  The virus has also recently been detected in many other species of mammals in many parts of the world, including seals, mice, goats and domestic cats. 

As a result of the viral spread, many scientists have warned of an increasing risk of H5N1 mutating and causing more severe human infections. 

The letter’s authors also included Rebecca Katz, Lawrence Gostin and Jesse Goodman, all professors and global health specialists at Georgetown University in the United States, and Rick Bright, a current advisor to ����VR��Ƶ and member of ����VR��Ƶ’s Scientific Advisory Committee. 

The authors cautioned that making a global supply of doses of effective H5N1 flu vaccines available in a short timeframe is extremely challenging and is hampered by manufacturers having to use currently-approved technologies such as egg-based vaccines, which are fraught with challenges and can take many months to produce at scale. 

The process of developing new and updated H5N1 vaccines using rapid-response technologies is also slowed by the need for time-consuming efficacy trials, they wrote, and many national drug regulators are not able to conduct assessments of pandemic vaccines quickly enough for vaccination campaigns to get ahead of the threat. 

“Immunization programs are complex and demand advance planning,” they wrote.  

The experts outlined three critical efforts that they said  should begin now in preparation for a potential wider human outbreak of H5N1: health authorities should establish a programme involving industry, governments, regulators and the scientific community to develop rapidly scalable pandemic flu vaccines, tests and treatments—with equitable access supported by a funded global framework; a comprehensive public communications programme should be initiated to address misinformation and hesitancy about vaccines; and governments should develop and transparently stress-test pandemic response plans to deal with a range of different disease scenarios and immunisation strategies.