U.S. to spend up to $1B for bird flu response

 The Trump administration will allocate up to $1B to prevent the spread of bird flu and boost egg imports, Reuters reported, quoting the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, on Wednesday.

She delivered the remarks at a conference of state agriculture officials against a backdrop of a three-year bird flu outbreak that has led to the death of at least 166M chickens since 2023 and caused a sharp increase in egg prices.

Since early 2024, roughly 1,000 dairy herds and nearly 70 people have also been infected by the virus that has already led to the death of a Louisiana resident in January.

According to Rollins, $500M and $400M will be allocated, respectively, to support free biosecurity audits at farms and boost payments to farmers who need to cull their chickens to prevent viral transmission.

Some of the funds will be channeled from spending cuts the department generated with the support of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, she said in an Op-Ed published in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

The U.S. bird flu vaccine stockpile represents products from GSK (NYSE:GSK), Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY), and CSL (OTCQX:CSLLY). Vaccine developers targeting bird flu include Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), and CureVac (CVAC).

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/u-s-to-spend-up-to-1b-for-bird-flu-response/ar-AA1zQvvW?ocid=finance-verthp-feeds