The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced a program to encourage vaccination of up to 200,000 workers on livestock and poultry facilities to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine.  The initiative stems from the documented infection of workers involved in depopulation of two poultry farms in Colorado that were impacted by H5N1 avian influenza, presumably the cow-adapted B3.13 variant of H5N1.

Failure to vaccinate workers with the multivalent seasonal vaccine raises the risk of an unlikely recombinant event if workers infected with a human strain of influenza interact with poultry or other livestock species infected with H5N1.

The CDC will make available $10 million to encourage vaccination with grants to the National Center for Farm Worker Help and other organizations.  Two million dollars will be used to purchase influenza vaccines and $3 million to facilitate vaccination campaigns.

Dr. Nirav Shah, Principal Deputy Director of the CDC, stated, “Preventing seasonal influenza in these workers, many of whom are also potentially exposed to H5N1 viruses may also reduce the risk of new versions of the seasonal influenza A virus emerging.  The 2024 seasonal vaccine will, however, not protect against H5N1 but will protect farm workers and their contacts from prevailing strains of influenza A.”