Former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Scott Gottlieb and Luciana Borio, a former director for medical and biodefense preparedness policy at the National Security Council, wrote a Friday op-ed in the Washington Post outlining growing concerns for the White House’s approach to eliminating bird flu mutations.
“President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team would be wise to prepare for quick action after he takes office,” the two wrote.
“The Biden administration has been mishandling the outbreak in cattle for months, increasing the possibility of a dangerous, wider spread,” they added.
Gottlieb and Borio claim that President Biden should’ve initiated a plan to address recent outbreaks in a federal effort with more urgency than he did.
Few human infections have been linked to dairy or poultry farms, resulting in mild illness, but some say a new strain could develop in the coming years.
“Only in the past month has the Biden administration undertaken widespread testing of bulk stocks of raw milk to detect which dairy herds are infected, so farmers can take steps to quarantine sick cows and prevent further transmission on farms and into dairy products,” they stated.