MedPage Today Effective communication across all levels of government is as important as a vaccine. The threat of a widespread human outbreak of bird flu is on the horizon. And, with it, the potential for a pandemic. The next pandemic — whether from the H5N1 strain circulating since 2022 or something else — may not be preventable, but its worst impacts are avoidable. Minimizing harm depends not just on pharmaceutical innovations like rapid testing and vaccines, but also on having a public willing to deem these innovations as “worth it.”
Rather than just passively watching and worrying, we need to be ready now with trustworthy communication. H5N1 is already affecting Americans, from farm workers directly exposed to the virus to consumers facing higher prices at the grocery store. When Waffle House added a 50-cent-per-egg surcharge, it brought the economic reality of bird flu home to millions. As the virus continues to mutate, governments and scientists are rightly racing to develop vaccines.