U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the House Agriculture Committee at a hearing on Wednesday that the agency plans to quickly license it for widespread production if it is effective for turkeys.
The USDA is seeking federal funding to stockpile vaccine nationally.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to get a lot of folks working collaboratively together and we stockpile enough so that if this does hit and hits us hard we’re in a position to respond quickly,” Vilsack said.
The vaccine targets the H5N2 virus that killed 48 million birds in 15 states this spring. Development is part of the USDA’s preparation for a possible outbreak recurrence.
Scientists believe the virus was spread by droppings of wild birds migrating north this spring. They’re concerned it could return this fall when birds fly south for the winter or again next spring.