Last week, I wrote about RFK Jr.’s "killer" suggestion that it was better to get measles than to get vaccinated. It turns out he has similar thoughts about bird flu.
From The New York Times:
Instead of culling birds when the infection is discovered, farmers “should consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds, and preserve the birds, that are immune to it,” Mr. Kennedy said recently on Fox News.
That is just the kind of idea that could sound good to someone with absolutely no scientific or medical credentials (Kennedy is a former environmental lawyer). The Times notes that Kennedy has no jurisdiction over farms. But the also-unqualified Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary who does have jurisdiction, thinks Kennedy’s cockamamie suggestion is worth trying. The Times quotes her as saying, “There are some farmers that are out there that are willing to really try this on a pilot as we build the safe perimeter around them to see if there is a way forward with immunity.”
Real scientists and experts think it’s a terrible idea. “Veterinary scientists said letting the virus sweep through poultry flocks unchecked would be inhumane and dangerous, and have enormous economic consequences,” The Times reported. It quoted a number of them. For example, Dr. Gail Hansen, a former state veterinarian for Kansas (hardly an outpost of woke ideology), called the idea a “recipe for disaster.”
Every infection is another opportunity for the virus, called H5N1, to evolve into a more virulent form. Geneticists have been tracking its mutations closely; so far, the virus has not developed the ability to spread among people.
But if H5N1 were to be allowed to run through a flock of five million birds, “that’s literally five million chances for that virus to replicate or to mutate,” Dr. Hansen said.
Large numbers of infected birds are likely to transmit massive amounts of the virus, putting farm workers and other animals at great risk.
“So now you’re setting yourself up for bad things to happen,” Dr. Hansen said.
It’s almost as if the Musk/Trump administration is trying to make life harder and more deadly for Americans.
