FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Doctors for America
PO Box: 21161
2300 18th St NW Lbby
Washington, DC 20009-9996
February 27, 2025
Doctors For America Urges Trump to Back H5N1 Public Health Response
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the avian influenza A (H5N1), also known as “bird flu” continues to spread, misinformation and increasing cuts to scientific departments leave the United States vulnerable to this serious health threat.
The H5N1 bird flu continues to spread amongst poultry and cattle. Since the outbreak, at least 70 cases in humans have been reported. While there has been no person-to-person transmission reported to date, a robust public health infrastructure, timely release of information, and coordinated active surveillance and disease response are essential to mitigate the pandemic potential of this virus. The limited public health response to date, in combination with the dismantling of federal public health institutions, dramatically increases the risk that if a disease emergency happens, the United States will not be prepared to respond. The recent COVID-19 pandemic underscores the importance of supporting public health measures, and the economic and human cost of poor public health preparedness.
Our country is at its strongest when those at all levels of political leadership and influence work with public health professionals to support the health of all Americans through evidence-based science. Increasing hostility towards our public health agencies and the proactive measures they can provide undermines decades of public health work by fueling public distrust and the spread of disinformation.
It is additionally alarming and dangerous that our national public health agencies are being prevented from sharing important data and information. Moreover, recent government layoffs leave major gaps in personnel to cover this new threat. Though several government departments claim to be rectifying the dismissal of key scientists working on the H5N1 bird flu, the continued federal position cuts and negative rhetoric from the White House pose risks to key management strategies for this emerging issue.
If we continue to ignore the dangers this H5N1 bird flu virus possesses, we risk repeating the mistakes of the COVID-19 pandemic, missing our opportunity at preventing the loss of lives before it is too late to minimize the damage.
We need to be empowering our public health officials, and partners to dedicate more resources to investigating and preventing the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus. We at Doctors for America, stand with our national, state and local public health officials.
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About Doctors for America:
Doctors for America mobilizes doctors and medical students to be leaders in putting patients over politics to improve the health of our patients, communities, and nation. DFA is an organization of over 27,000 physician and medical student advocates in all 50 states, representing all areas of specialization. DFA teaches physicians and medical students advocacy skills and does advocacy at a state and federal level. Our impact areas focus on access to affordable care, community health and prevention, and health justice and equity. DFA focuses solely on what is best for our patients, not on the business side of medicine, and does not accept any funding from pharmaceutical or medical device companies, which uniquely positions DFA as the organization that puts patients over politics and patients over profits. Find out more at doctorsforamerica.org and on Twitter drsforamerica or Bluesky drsforamerica.bsky.social.
