Raja Demands Answers On Secretary Kennedy’s Bird Flu Strategy

India-West Staff Reporter

WASHINGTON, DC – Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Healthcare and Financial Services, and other members sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. demanding answers on his department’s handling of the bird flu outbreak and its decision to cancel a key vaccine development contract on June 11.

The letter highlights HHS’s May 28, 2025, cancellation of a $766 million contract with Moderna for developing vaccines against future pandemic influenza strains, including bird flu. Members stated, “avian flu is dangerous and uncontrolled. Instead of moving forward with promising vaccines, however, your department has endorsed unorthodox and untested strategies to contain the outbreak.”

Lawmakers cited concerns about Kennedy’s methods, including his reported March consideration of letting bird flu “run through the flock.” They also noted his alleged advice three weeks ago to Canadian officials against eliminating 400 ostriches exposed to the virus, despite the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s stance that such culling was essential “to protect Canadians from the serious potential risks that avian influenza presents to our people and our economy.”

Despite USDA issuing a conditional license for an avian flu vaccine for poultry and promising human vaccine trial results, Members stated: “You have advocated for these unproven approaches… I am concerned that your longstanding vaccine hesitancy—including your statement that ‘[t]here’s no vaccine that is safe and effective’—appears to be influencing federal policy.”

To understand HHS’s response, Krishnamoorthi and the Subcommittee have asked all relevant documentation and communication on the bird flu outbreak by June 25.