Funding Cuts And Firings Hobble Bird Flu Response

NBC News reports:

As avian flu drives egg prices to record levels and increasingly poses a risk to humans, moves by the White House to cut spending and restrict communications have hobbled public health officials’ response, with the new administration yet to outline a clear strategy on how it plans to stem the spread of the virus.

State and local public health officials have gone weeks without regular updates on avian flu from the CDC after President Donald Trump froze nearly all external communications from the agency, said a person familiar with the situation.

Widespread funding cuts across the government and new restrictions on funding for NIH grants have also created uncertainty among infectious disease researchers and local health officials. Meanwhile, cuts to USAID have limited monitoring of the virus overseas.

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