RFK Jr. Says Vaccinating Birds Against Avian Flu Will Create ‘Mutation Factories’

Mar. 15, 2025

(Left) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; (Right) Stock image of a chicken.Photo:John Parra/Getty; Getty

John Parra/Getty; Getty

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.addressed the worseningavian flucrisis, saying vaccinating birds turns them into “mutation factories." Instead, he recommends letting the birds who survive the virus continue to breed.Kennedy, theSecretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, spoke to Fox News hostSean HannityMarch 11, saying “avian fluwill never be eradicated” as the virus is “endemic in wild populations of birds” who spread it to domestic flocks.He went on to say “all of my agencies have advised against vaccination of birds. Because if you vaccinate with a leaky vaccine — in other words, a vaccine that does not provide sterilizing immunity, that does not absolutely protect against the disease — you turn those flocks into mutation factories. They’re teaching the organism how to mutate … It’s much more likely to jump to animals, if you do that. All my agency heads from the [National Institute of Health] NIH, [Centers for Disease Control] CDC, and [Food and Drug Administration] FDA have all said we should not be vaccinating. It’s dangerous for human beings to vaccinate the birds.”Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spoke out on the worsening avian flu crisis.Roy Rochlin/GettyAs one 2020 study in the journalPlos Biologyexplained, “Many livestock and human vaccines are leaky because they block symptoms but do not prevent infection or onward transmission.”The U.S. does not currently vaccinate birds against the avian flu. Two vaccines are approved in Europe to prevent the avian flu in chickens, according to theEuropean Medicines Agency. However, theEMA advises itduring an outbreak: “Preventive vaccination of the most susceptible species in high‐risk transmission areas was the best option to minimise the outbreaks' number and duration.”Stock image of eggs and milk.GettyIn the U.S., farmers are currently culling infected animals as a way to mitigate the spread of the flu. “The question is, should you cull those flocks?” Kennedy asked. “They should isolate them. You should let the disease go through them and identify the birds that survive, which are the birds that probably have a genetic inclination for immunity, and those should be the birds that we breed.”He then advised “intensively test[ing] therapeutic drugs on those flocks” to help develop “a drug that potentially is useful in human beings to treat avian flu. That’s what we should be doing.”“We’ve killed 166 million chickens,” Kennedy said. “That’s why we have anegg crisis.”Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.addressed the worseningavian flucrisis, saying vaccinating birds turns them into “mutation factories." Instead, he recommends letting the birds who survive the virus continue to breed.

Kennedy, theSecretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, spoke to Fox News hostSean HannityMarch 11, saying “avian fluwill never be eradicated” as the virus is “endemic in wild populations of birds” who spread it to domestic flocks.

He went on to say “all of my agencies have advised against vaccination of birds. Because if you vaccinate with a leaky vaccine — in other words, a vaccine that does not provide sterilizing immunity, that does not absolutely protect against the disease — you turn those flocks into mutation factories. They’re teaching the organism how to mutate … It’s much more likely to jump to animals, if you do that. All my agency heads from the [National Institute of Health] NIH, [Centers for Disease Control] CDC, and [Food and Drug Administration] FDA have all said we should not be vaccinating. It’s dangerous for human beings to vaccinate the birds.”

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spoke out on the worsening avian flu crisis.Roy Rochlin/Getty

Roy Rochlin/Getty

As one 2020 study in the journalPlos Biologyexplained, “Many livestock and human vaccines are leaky because they block symptoms but do not prevent infection or onward transmission.”

The U.S. does not currently vaccinate birds against the avian flu. Two vaccines are approved in Europe to prevent the avian flu in chickens, according to theEuropean Medicines Agency. However, theEMA advises itduring an outbreak: “Preventive vaccination of the most susceptible species in high‐risk transmission areas was the best option to minimise the outbreaks' number and duration.”

Stock image of eggs and milk.Getty

Getty

In the U.S., farmers are currently culling infected animals as a way to mitigate the spread of the flu. “The question is, should you cull those flocks?” Kennedy asked. “They should isolate them. You should let the disease go through them and identify the birds that survive, which are the birds that probably have a genetic inclination for immunity, and those should be the birds that we breed.”

He then advised “intensively test[ing] therapeutic drugs on those flocks” to help develop “a drug that potentially is useful in human beings to treat avian flu. That’s what we should be doing.”

“We’ve killed 166 million chickens,” Kennedy said. “That’s why we have anegg crisis.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

source: people.com