Will Stone

I would say the biggest action is around vaccines. No one in the US is being vaccinated for bird flu yet, but the US does have three H5N1 vaccines that were licensed and approved years ago because of concerns about future bird flu pandemics. Those shots were developed to target older strains of the virus.

There is some lab research that indicates they could still be protective against this newer version. But the federal government has actually been working to update those vaccines to target the strain that's circulating now better. This is kind of what we do with flu vaccine. You know, we update the strain. Every year to try to get a good match.

There is some lab research that indicates they could still be protective against this newer version. But the federal government has actually been working to update those vaccines to target the strain that's circulating now better. This is kind of what we do with flu vaccine. You know, we update the strain. Every year to try to get a good match.

There is some lab research that indicates they could still be protective against this newer version. But the federal government has actually been working to update those vaccines to target the strain that's circulating now better. This is kind of what we do with flu vaccine. You know, we update the strain. Every year to try to get a good match.

So the federal government has put in orders with vaccine makers for these updated shots. It's expected there'll be about 10 million of them stockpiled by early spring. These are two dose shots. So clearly, Gina, this is not nearly enough.

So the federal government has put in orders with vaccine makers for these updated shots. It's expected there'll be about 10 million of them stockpiled by early spring. These are two dose shots. So clearly, Gina, this is not nearly enough.

So the federal government has put in orders with vaccine makers for these updated shots. It's expected there'll be about 10 million of them stockpiled by early spring. These are two dose shots. So clearly, Gina, this is not nearly enough.

Yeah. Only compounding the issue here is that these vaccines rely on older technology. And so they can't just be churned out, you know, in a rapid timeframe.

Yeah. Only compounding the issue here is that these vaccines rely on older technology. And so they can't just be churned out, you know, in a rapid timeframe.

Yeah. Only compounding the issue here is that these vaccines rely on older technology. And so they can't just be churned out, you know, in a rapid timeframe.

And making things even more difficult is that the federal government doesn't want to preemptively make hundreds of millions of these shots because if bird flu does evolve significantly and can spread among humans, we expect it's going to look different and they may need to update the shot again. So it's a

And making things even more difficult is that the federal government doesn't want to preemptively make hundreds of millions of these shots because if bird flu does evolve significantly and can spread among humans, we expect it's going to look different and they may need to update the shot again. So it's a

And making things even more difficult is that the federal government doesn't want to preemptively make hundreds of millions of these shots because if bird flu does evolve significantly and can spread among humans, we expect it's going to look different and they may need to update the shot again. So it's a

tricky situation of kind of cautiously monitoring the situation, but not going all in on vaccines that we have yet.

tricky situation of kind of cautiously monitoring the situation, but not going all in on vaccines that we have yet.

tricky situation of kind of cautiously monitoring the situation, but not going all in on vaccines that we have yet.

It is. That's actually one of the main things they're doing in the development of new vaccines, hoping that we can have some shots ready that could be

It is. That's actually one of the main things they're doing in the development of new vaccines, hoping that we can have some shots ready that could be

It is. That's actually one of the main things they're doing in the development of new vaccines, hoping that we can have some shots ready that could be

Produced a lot faster, uh, with mRNA technology, uh, the U S department of health and human services actually announced this month that they've awarded over $500 million to Moderna, uh, which came up with the COVID vaccine to work on influenza vaccines, you know, including to protect against bird flu. Um,