As bird flu outbreaks continue to affect animals, experts answer questions about keeping pets and their owners healthy

The ongoing bird flu outbreak has led to wild bird deaths, slaughtered livestock, and hazardous conditions for dairy industry workers.

Without a new policy including vaccines, the government will continue to slaughter every flock with a bird flu infection to limit the spread of the disease. Those deaths have totaled over 166 million birds in the U.S. since 2022.

The US government is considering bird flu vaccines to prevent the mass culling of infected chickens, which has driven egg prices to nearly $6 per dozen.

The move has been delayed in part because of concerns it could jeopardize chicken exports worth billions of dollars a year.

Vaccines could be a key means of suppressing bird flu and avoiding the slaughter of millions of chickens, which is blamed for egg prices averaging nearly $5 a dozen.

Chicken meat producers remain the most resistant to vaccines because of concerns they could harm meat exports, which totaled nearly $4.7 billion last year.