Nationally, this avian flu sickened at least 66 people in 2024, mostly dairy farmworkers who came in contact with diseased animals and contaminated milk. Most cases have been mild, but two infections late last year were more severe and more concerning.

Since early 2024, the U.S. has logged 66 human cases of H5N1. Scientists are keeping a watchful eye on the virus’s spread as we enter a new year.

When the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) transitions its leadership with a new incoming presidential administration, a thorough dialogue concerning vaccination for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) can be expected, a former USDA Under Secretary Hunt Shipman said.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is distancing himself from his anti-vaccine work as he seeks to become the leader of the nation’s top health agency under President Donald Trump, according to government ethics documents released on Wednesday.

No person-to-person spread has been detected, but that doesn’t mean an H5N1 avian influenza pandemic isn’t possible or even probable.

Dr. Robert M. Califf bid farewell to his role as Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in a reflective post on X, formerly

U.S. senators who support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination as secretary of Health and Human Services will bear some responsibility for the consequences.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is going dark, along with other federal agencies within the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This week, the returning Trump administration told these agencies to stop talking to the public—for how long, no one knows.

The agencies are charged with making decisions that touch the lives of every American and are the source of crucial information to health-care providers.

President Joe Biden's outgoing administration on Thursday announced $211 million in new funding to develop mRNA vaccines against emerging biothreats and said it was accelerating bird flu testing, as fears of another pandemic loom.

Trump’s decision is shortsighted and put the rest of the world is put at greater risk, say public health scholars

US health officials announced Friday they were awarding $590 million to Moderna to develop mRNA vaccines against influenza, including advancing the company's bird flu vaccine, as fears of a new pandemic grow.