Jan. 18 (UPI) — Georgia officials on Friday halted all in-state poultry sales, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded $590 million to Moderna to accelerate development of vaccines to protect people from flu strains in cows and birds.
State and federal officials confirmed a case of bird flu at a commercial poultry operation in Georgia’s Elbert County, which prompted state officials to halt all in-state poultry sales and activities.
“For the first time since the ongoing, nationwide outbreak began in 2022, HPAI [bird flu] has been confirmed in a commercial poultry operation in the state of Georgia,” Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said Friday in a news release.
“This is a serious threat to Georgia’s #1 industry and the livelihoods of thousands of Georgians who make their living in our state’s poultry industry,” Harper said. “We are working around the clock to mitigate any further spread of the disease and ensure that normal poultry activities in Georgia can resume as quickly as possible.”
The confirmed bird flu case prompted state officials to immediately halt all in-state poultry exhibitions, shows, swaps, meets and sales until further notice.
The owner of the commercial poultry operation first noticed clinical signs of avian influenza on Wednesday.
The Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network collected samples and tested them on Thursday, which confirmed the bird flu in the commercial flock.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory also confirmed the bird flu in the commercial flock on Friday.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Management and State Agricultural Response Teams immediately undertook depopulation of the commercial flock on Friday and are cleaning and disinfecting the poultry operation through the weekend.
All commercial poultry operations located within a 6.2-mile radius of the commercial operation in Elbert County are under quarantine and undergoing surveillance testing for at least two weeks.
All poultry sales also are halted in Georgia pending the outcome of the current mitigation efforts, Bloomberg reported.
While Georgia officials deal with the state’s first confirmed case of bird flu at a commercial poultry operation, federal officials have allocated $590 million to accelerate development of the H5N1 mRNA influenza vaccine to prevent human outbreaks of bird flu and other types of influenza.
“Avian flu variants have proven to be particularly unpredictable and dangerous to humans in the past,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said Friday in a news release. “Accelerating the development of new vaccines will allow us to stay ahead and ensure that Americans have the tools they need to stay safe.”
Moderna’s influenza vaccine uses mRNA technology used during the COVID-19 response.
In July, U.S. government awarded Moderna $176 million to help expedite the development of an mRNA vaccine to be used for bird flu.
A Louisiana resident who was hospitalized with bird flu earlier this year became the nation’s first confirmed death cause by the bird flu, CBS News reported.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently declared a state of emergency due to the bird flu in that state.
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