(NewsNation) — A New Jersey-based company announced last week that it received a conditional license from the United States Department of Agriculture for a bird flu vaccine that can be used for chickens.
The company, Zoetis, said this license was granted on the “demonstration of safety, purity, and reasonable expectation of efficacy based on serology data.” It noted that the decision to vaccinate commercial poultry flocks rests with national regulatory authorities and the industry itself.
Mahesh Kumar, senior vice president of global biologics research and development at Zoetis, said in a statement that scientists began updating their previous bird flu vaccine when a new strain was identified in the U.S. three years ago.
“Our readiness with this most recent vaccine is another example of how we continue to live our purpose to nurture the world and humankind by advancing care for animals, ultimately providing solutions to global animal health challenges,” Kumar said.
A USDA spokesperson told NBC News this conditional license doesn’t mean the vaccine has been approved for commercial use and that poultry farmers cannot yet purchase it.
“This is simply a normal step in the research and development phase, not in the implementation of a vaccine strategy,” the USDA spokesperson said.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is expected “in the coming days” to announce a new strategy to fight the flu, a USDA spokesperson said to NBC, though they did not say whether vaccines were included in this.
Bird flu is currently widespread among wild birds worldwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the United States, there have been outbreaks in poultry and dairy cows.
Currently, there are 69 cases of bird flu in the U.S. and one reported death. There is no person-to-person spread, and the current public health risk is low, the CDC says. However, a recently released report by the CDC said the virus may be going undetected in humans. Specifically, the report suggests the spread of bird flu between dairy cattle and humans has gone unchecked.
This news comes as the Trump Administration froze external communications from the agency, which interrupted the agency’s weekly report.
NewsNation digital producer Jordan Perkins contributed to this report.