On Oct. 14, 2026, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s vaccine skeptical views influenced the decision to shelve the U.S. bird flu response plan, insiders have said. The H5N1 virus infected 70 people and killed one person as it spread aggressively among cattle herds and poultry flocks last year. The disease has killed some 200 million birds since 2022 and contributed to the record high egg prices seen in early 2025.

The Agriculture Department unveiled a $1bn strategy to curb the disease last February, including $500m set aside for biosecurity measures, $400m in relief for farmers and $100m for research, reducing regulation and exploring import options.

But five people with knowledge of the matter told Politico that agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins was concerned that an internal strategy for vaccinating poultry and egg-laying hens would clash with RFK’s anti-vaccine views. Kennedy publicly disavowed the idea of vaccinating chickens and last March proposed letting the disease “run through the flock” to identify birds with natural immunity, even as the gave conditional approval for a vaccine. Rollins at the time told CBS News they could pilot the natural immunity idea with a number of willing farmers, despite backlash from veterinary experts.

Dr. Gail Hansen, a former state veterinarian for Kansas, told the New York Times that the plan was a “really terrible idea, for any one of a number of reasons”. If H5N1 could run through a flock of five million birds, it would represent five millions chances for that virus to replicate or to mutate, increasing the likelihood of the virus spreading and affecting farm workers or other animals, she explained.

In the U.S., as many as 107 outbreaks had been reported by November of last year, nearly four times the number a year prior. In Europe, the situation was also more severe than the year prior, with Germany recording the highest number of outbreaks in three years.

Between early September and mid-November, 1,443 cases of bird flu were detected in wild birds in 26 European countries – a fourfold increase compared with the same period in 2024 and the highest since 2016, the European food safety agency EFSA said.

According to eight current and former officials, Kennedy has continued searching for evidence to support his long-held belief that many vaccines are inadequately tested and can cause serious side effects, even after publicly agreeing to avoid discussing vaccines following concerns from senior White House aides that his views could become a political liability for Republicans.