What Anti-Vaccine Influencers Are Saying About Bird Flu
And why they might actually help start a bird flu pandemic...
Can you spot the propaganda in what anti-vaccine influencers are saying about bird flu?
Wait, why are they worried about bird flu?
Why are they calling it a hoax?
Of course, it is because if we have a bird flu pandemic, then many of us will want to get vaccinated and protected to fight it!
And that’s why they have already started their misinformation campaign against bird flu and bird flu vaccines.
Which Birds Get Bird Flu?
Just consider the comments from Sherri Tenpenny, who thinks it is strange that bird flu only affects “food chain birds.”
Is that true?
“The viruses that cause avian influenza (or “bird flu”) mainly infect and spread among wild aquatic birds, such as wild ducks, geese, and storks, and domestic poultry, such as chickens and turkeys. Backyard flocks (poultry or non-poultry) are also at risk, as are captive or pet birds with access to the outdoors, where they could be exposed to infected wild birds or virus-contaminated surfaces or materials.”
Avian influenza in pets and backyard flocks
It isn’t true, and something she could have easily looked up before posting if she had any intention to post information about bird flu that was anywhere in the neighborhood of being true.
If There's an Egg Shortage, Why Isn't There a Chicken Shortage?
And what about the comment on her post, about the chicken meat?
That’s actually an excellent question!
An excellent question that many folks have already answered…
“The reason chicken and egg prices have not moved in tandem has to do with the very different toll that avian flu has taken on birds that produce eggs — and those raised for their meat.”
Here's a Super Bowl riddle: Why are egg prices surging — but not chicken wings?
It turns out that “meat” chickens don’t live long enough to get infected with bird flu, as they are harvested at about seven weeks of age. And if they do get sick, it is easier to replace them.
This is in contrast to the type of chickens that lay eggs. Those chickens don’t start laying eggs until they are about twenty weeks old and have plenty of time to catch bird flu. And once they are sick, it takes a lot longer to replace them.
And that’s why we don’t have a shortage of chicken meat, but do have a shortage of eggs.
There is no conspiracy, just propaganda and misinformation from anti-vaccine influencers.
Does Bird Flu Even Exist?
Wait, what?
This is a reminder that germ theory denialism is still a thing in the 21st century.
These folks are not only against vaccines, they don’t even think that swine flu, COVID, or bird flu are caused by viruses.
“I’m officially done with debating pandemics. They haven’t happened because they can’t happen. They can’t happen because contagion doesn’t happen.”
Dr Mike Yeadon
Mike Yeadon is going so far as saying that contagion doesn’t happen?!?
That will be welcome news to the families of the people who have already gotten and died of bird flu this past year!
Why Are Eggs Cheaper in Mexico?
Have you heard that eggs are cheaper in Mexico, so that’s good evidence for a SCAMdemic?
Of course, they don’t mention the Package against Inflation and High Cost of Living (PACIC) agreement that caps the cost of many basic food products in Mexico, including eggs!
Why Do We Cull Or Kill Chickens With Natural Immunity?
If you believe that ‘we’ are culling or killing chickens with natural immunity and that it would be better to let bird flu run wild until it reaches natural herd immunity levels of protection, then you don’t understand bird flu.
Bird flu is super contagious.
“There’s a reason why they call it ‘highly pathogenic avian influenza,’” said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Canada. “It just goes straight through a flock like a hot knife through butter.”
Killing 166 million birds hasn’t helped poultry farmers stop H5N1. Is there a better way?
And is also very deadly.
“A natural death from H5N1 is not pleasant for a chicken, said Rasmussen. The virus produces a gastrointestinal infection, so the birds wind up dying of diarrhea along with respiratory distress.”
Killing 166 million birds hasn’t helped poultry farmers stop H5N1. Is there a better way?
So unless you had some way to protect them, like with a vaccine, your flock is going to die anyway if one or more of the birds get infected. These birds don’t survive and develop natural immunity.
“One of the reasons to cull early is that you don’t want a lot of bird-human exposures,” he said. “The more infections we introduce to humans, the more mutations we’re going to see that increase the risk for a broader epidemic or pandemic.”
Killing 166 million birds hasn’t helped poultry farmers stop H5N1. Is there a better way?
And testing all the birds to see which are infected, since some could be in the early stages of the disease and not yet showing symptoms, would not only not be practical, it would increase the chance of human infections.
Why Don’t We Just Breed Flu Resistant Chickens?
Robert Malone thinks he has an answer to this whole bird flu mess.
All we have to do is breed chickens that are resistant to the bird flu?
While that’s not a bad idea in theory, of course, the problem is that bird flu is so contagious and deadly, there aren’t any birds who don’t get sick to breed! Remember, it isn’t the ones who recovered that you would have to breed, but any who were resistant to getting sick in the first place.
Scientists are working on breeding bird flu resistant chickens using gene-editing techniques, but are still working out problems with breakthrough infections.
Bird Flu and Gain of Function Research
Why are anti-vaccine influencers always talking about gain of function research?
Because they like to push the idea that everything is a conspiracy!
This time, Del Bigtree and Peter McCullough are trying to push the idea that the bird flu virus was created through gain of function research.
What’s their evidence?
“No one seems to point out the fact that those gain-of-function experiments ... gave us an important piece of information, which is that that virus can jump,”Imperiale said.
Why scientists say we are fighting H5N1 bird flu with one hand tied behind our backs
Mostly it is because scientists have done gain of function research on bird flu - to help predict when, where, and how H5N1 might cause the next global pandemic!
Without that gain of function research, we won’t know which mutations are worrisome, and it will be harder to create antiviral medications and vaccines.
Vaccinating Chickens Will Turn Them Into Mutant Factories
Which anti-vaccine influencer said that vaccinating chickens, one way to avoid killing chickens, would turn them into mutant factories?
Tragically, it’s the new Secretary of HHS, RFK Jr.
"We've in fact said, at the USDA, that they should consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds and preserve the birds that are immune to it," Kennedy had said.
RFK Jr. warns vaccinating poultry for bird flu could backfire
An anti-vaccine influencer who actually has the power to implement policy that will almost certainly lead to more mutations in birds that could help make bird flu more contagious to humans.
At least you will know who to blame when egg prices keep going up.
And who to blame when the bird flu pandemic starts…
References
Avian influenza in pets and backyard flocks. https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/animal-health-and-welfare/animal-health/avian-influenza/avian-influenza-companion-animals
Here's a Super Bowl riddle: Why are egg prices surging — but not chicken wings? https://www.npr.org/2025/02/07/nx-s1-5270835/super-bowl-egg-prices-chicken-wings
H5 Bird Flu: Current Situation. https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html
Mexico: Government of Mexico Program to Combat Food Price Inflation and Scarcity. https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/mexico-government-mexico-program-combat-food-price-inflation-and-scarcity
Killing 166 million birds hasn’t helped poultry farmers stop H5N1. Is there a better way? https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-02-26/poultry-culling-hasnt-stopped-h5n1-bird-flu
RFK Jr. warns vaccinating poultry for bird flu could backfire. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-vaccinating-poultry-bird-flu-could-backfire/
Bird Flu Pandemic Preparedness Activities Are Not Evidence of a Conspiracy.
Why scientists say we are fighting H5N1 bird flu with one hand tied behind our backs. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-12-24/restrictions-on-gain-of-function-research-have-hobbled-h5n1-bird-flu-fight
Hu X, Saxena A, Magstadt DR, Gauger PC, Burrough ER, Zhang J, Siepker C, Mainenti M, Gorden PJ, Plummer PJ, Li G. Genomic characterization of highly pathogenic avian influenza A H5N1 virus newly emerged in dairy cattle. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2024 Dec;13(1):2380421. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2024.2380421. Epub 2024 Jul 24. PMID: 39008278; PMCID: PMC11271078.
After June peak, false claims about bird flu diminish but continue spreading. https://www.infodemiology.com/false-claims-about-bird-flu-conversations-down-from-june-peak-but-conspiracies-continue/
Thank you for documenting all this insanity.