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<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n AQUEBOGUE,\u00a0 N.Y.;\u00a0 WASHINGTON,\u00a0 D.C.\u2013\u2013<\/strong> \u201cI look at what’s going on as this administration coming in and getting their ducks in a row,\u201d\u00a0 an anonymous federal official told National Public Radio on January 22,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 \u00a0moments after the incoming Donald Trump administration muzzled all 90,000 employees of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.<\/p>\n Yes,\u00a0 this is about ducks.\u00a0 And apparently about the quacks,\u00a0 too,\u00a0 advising Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,\u00a0 his nominee to head the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,\u00a0 about public and animal health policy.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Dorothy Fink,\u00a0 acting head of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,\u00a0 and yes,\u00a0 that is really her name,\u00a0 issued an \u201corder to the heads of all the agency’s operating divisions directing them to refrain from most external communications such as issuing documents, guidance, \u00a0or notices until such documents can be approved by \u2018a presidential appointee,\u2019\u201d\u00a0 reported Gabrielle Emanuel, \u00a0Selena Simmons-Duffin, \u00a0and Rob Stein of National Public Radio.<\/p>\n The freeze \u201capplies until February 1,\u00a0 2025,\u201d\u00a0 Fink explained.<\/p>\n \u201cIt includes public speaking and social media,\u201d\u00a0 the National Public Radio team added.<\/p>\n Rat Fink,\u00a0 emblematic character of the late cartoonist Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Fink directive \u201cincludes the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC),\u00a0 the National Institutes of Health, \u00a0and the Food & Drug Administration,\u201d\u00a0 added Times<\/em> of London New York correspondent Josie Ensor,\u00a0 noting that \u201cThe CDC was scheduled to publish several reports this week, \u00a0including three about the H5N1 avian influenza virus outbreak in which at least one person has been recorded dead.\u201d<\/p>\n Less than two hours after Fink applied the muzzle,\u00a0 New York Daily News<\/em> reporter Joseph Wilkinson disclosed that,\u00a0 \u201cNearly 100,000 ducks will be killed at Long Island\u2019s last major commercial duck farm after [the H5N1] bird flu was detected at the Suffolk County facility,\u201d\u00a0 located in Aquebogue,\u00a0 about three miles north of Riverhead,\u00a0 80 miles east of New York City.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cNo people working at Crescent Duck Farm or other nearby animals have tested positive for H5N1, \u00a0according to News 12 Long Island,\u201d\u00a0 Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe farm was quarantined, \u00a0and its 99,000 birds will be euthanized to prevent any spread of the disease.<\/p>\n \u201cThroughout the U.S.,\u201d\u00a0 continued Wilkinson,\u00a0 \u201c67 people have been infected by H5N1 during the lengthy outbreak, \u00a0according to the Centers for Disease Control,\u201d\u00a0 which will apparently say nothing more about the body count between now and February 1,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 if then.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Updated Mike Stobbe and Jonel Aleccia of Associated Press,\u00a0 \u201cThe pause,\u201d\u00a0 in Health & Human Services communications,\u00a0 \u201calso applies to anything intended to be published in the Federal Register, \u00a0where the executive branch communicates rules and regulations, \u00a0and the Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report<\/em>, \u00a0a Centers for Disease Control & Prevention scientific publication,\u201d\u00a0 which warns doctors,\u00a0 hospitals,\u00a0 and public health agencies nationwide about outbreaks of potentially pandemic diseases\u2013\u2013such as H5N1.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring his first term,\u201d\u00a0 Stobbe and Aleccia recalled, \u00a0\u201cTrump\u2019s political appointees tried to gain control over the CDC\u2019s Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report<\/em>, \u00a0which had published information about the COVID-19 pandemic that conflicted with messaging from the White House.<\/p>\n Peking duckling chicks.<\/strong><\/em> \u201cFink wrote in her memo,\u201d\u00a0 Stobbe and Aleccia said, \u00a0\u201cthat some exceptions would be made for communications affecting \u2018critical health, safety, \u00a0environmental, \u00a0financial or national security functions,\u2019 \u00a0but that those would [also] be subject to review.\u201d<\/p>\n With the ducks at the Crescent Duck Farm lined up for slaughter,\u00a0 the Trump administration set about withdrawing U.S. participation in the World Health Organization,\u00a0 as Trump directed by executive order soon after his inauguration on January 21,\u00a0 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThe executive order also directs the Secretary of State to \u2018cease negotiations\u2019 on the World Health Organization Pandemic Agreement, \u00a0an international treaty to better prepare the world for future pandemics, \u00a0which has been in difficult negotiations for years,\u201d\u00a0 wrote Newsweek<\/em> senior reporter Brendan Cole.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Jointly explained Nature<\/em> and Scientific American<\/em> writers Dan Garisto,\u00a0 Max Kozlov,\u00a0 and Jeff Tollefson,\u00a0 citing \u201cJennifer Nuzzo, \u00a0an epidemiologist who directs the Pandemic Center at Brown University, \u00a0in Providence, \u00a0Rhode Island,\u201d\u00a0 World Health Organization member countries \u201cshare information and expertise on infectious disease outbreaks and other threats, \u00a0and without this key knowledge and data \u2014 for instance, \u00a0the DNA sequence of an emerging virus \u2014 the United States will be slower to respond to crises,\u201d\u00a0 such as H5N1.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition,\u201d\u00a0 Nuzzo warned,\u00a0 \u00a0withdrawing from the World Health Organization creates \u201copportunities for other countries to step in and assert themselves in ways that might not be compatible with U.S. interests.\u201d<\/p>\n Nuzzo mentioned that the U.S. \u201chas been a leading voice calling for stringent biosecurity measures in the construction of new pathogen research centers.\u201d<\/p>\n (Merritt Clifton)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Of greater concern to the Trump administration,\u00a0 a rational person might imagine,\u00a0 is that withdrawing the 18% of the World Health Organization revenue that the U.S. contributes to the $6.8 billion total WHO budget leaves a wide opening for China,\u00a0 currently contributing $181 million,\u00a0 to chip in enough more to become the dominant WHO partner.<\/p>\n The U.S. is contributing $264 million to the World Health Organization in the current fiscal year.\u00a0 China is contributing $181 million.<\/p>\n \u201cThe next largest donors to WHO,\u201d\u00a0 noted Patrick Wingrove and Jennifer Rigby of Reuters \u201care the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, \u00a0although most of that funding goes to polio eradication, \u00a0and the global vaccine group Gavi, \u00a0followed by the European Commission and the World Bank. \u00a0The next largest national donor is Germany, \u00a0which contributes around 3% of WHO funding.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark told Associated Press that leaving the World Health Organization does not appear to be in American interests,\u00a0 particularly given the \u201cghastly proposition\u201d that the rapid spread of H5N1 in recent months \u201cmight turn into a pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLeaving WHO would exclude the U.S. from WHO-coordinated initiatives, \u00a0like determining the yearly composition of flu vaccines and quick access to genetic databases run by WHO, \u00a0which could stall attempts to produce immunizations and medicines,\u201d\u00a0 Associated Press assessed.<\/p>\n The Trump executive order said the U.S. was withdrawing from WHO \u201cdue to the organization\u2019s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, \u00a0China and other global health crises,\u201d \u00a0an alleged \u201cfailure to adopt urgently needed reforms,\u201d \u00a0and also alleged \u201cinability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Reality tells a very different story.\u00a0 China warned the world about COVID-19 late on December 31, 2019, \u00a0via Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases moderator Marjorie Pollack, \u00a0who immediately relayed word about it to the 70,000 ProMED members worldwide, \u00a0ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong>\u00a0included, in the wee hours of January 1, 2020.<\/p>\n The World Health Organization put out a first alert two weeks later.<\/p>\n The first Trump administration, \u00a0however, \u00a0had dismantled the U.S. pandemic response team in May 2018, \u00a0and had recalled the Centers for Disease Control epidemiologist embedded in the Chinese disease control agency in July 2019.<\/p>\n This meant that Donald Trump literally did not get the memo.\u00a0 He could have,\u00a0 but he and his administration were not paying attention.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The World Health Organization on January 5,\u00a0 2020 announced “a pneumonia of unknown cause” in Wuhan, \u00a0China, \u00a0not yet designated COVID-19,\u00a0 \u201cand later that month confirmed human-to-human transmission of the disease,\u201d\u00a0 recounted Brendan Cole of Newsweek<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cOn January 30, \u00a02020,\u00a0 WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, \u00a0and declared the disease a pandemic on March 11,\u00a0 2020,\u201d\u00a0 Cole continued.<\/p>\n But the Trump administration had still not taken any decisive action.<\/p>\n Instead,\u00a0 with 20,000 Americans already dead,\u00a0 Trump \u201caccused the World Health Organization of mismanaging and covering up the pandemic and announced a halt in funding to the WHO on April 14, \u00a02020,\u201d\u00a0 Cole detailed.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n With 100,000 Americans dead,\u00a0 Trump on May 29,\u00a0 2020 announced that the U.S. would leave the World Health Organization,\u00a0 \u201cbut because the process takes one year,\u201d \u00a0Joe Biden reversed the Trump decision \u201con his first day in office in 2021,\u201d\u00a0 Cole added.<\/p>\n Altogether,\u00a0 1.2 million Americans died from COVID-19,\u00a0 many of them due to Trump administration fumbling and denial of the severity of the outbreak,\u00a0 while most other World Health Organization member nations brought it under control within the first year of the multi-year pandemic.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Unclear as yet is whether Trump will cancel a grant of $590 million to the Moderna pharmaceutical corporation made by the Joe Biden administration on January 17,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 to \u201chelp speed up the development of an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine,\u00a0 alongside other influenza vaccines,\u201d\u00a0 as described by Youri Benadjaoud and Meredith Deliso of ABC News.<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. Department of Health & Human Services said in a press release that the funding will allow the pharmaceutical company to accelerate the development of an H5N1 influenza vaccine “that is well matched to strains currently circulating in cows and birds and expands the clinical data supporting the use of mRNA vaccines that may be needed if other influenza strains emerge with pandemic potential,\u201d\u00a0 Benadjaoud and Deliso summarized.<\/p>\n Merritt & Beth Clifton with Henry the rooster.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n What can be said for now is only that the first two days of the Trump administration confirm that some people never learn:\u00a0 both Donald Trump himself,\u00a0 and those who voted for him after his actions in 2018-2019 left the U.S. wide open to the worst pandemic in U.S. history,\u00a0 killing twice as many people as the Spanish flu of 1918.<\/p>\n The post “Getting ducks in a row,” Trump team silences agencies about H5N1<\/a> appeared first on Animals 24-7<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Beth Clifton collage) Muzzling order comes just as news breaks of major H5N1 outbreak on Long Island duck farm AQUEBOGUE,\u00a0 N.Y.;\u00a0 WASHINGTON,\u00a0 D.C.\u2013\u2013 \u201cI look at what’s going on as this administration coming in and getting their ducks in a row,\u201d\u00a0 an anonymous federal official told National Public Radio on January 22,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 \u00a0moments after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12022],"tags":[15467,26919,13149,3285,26920,3705,1175],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-43487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activist","tag-agencies","tag-ducks","tag-h5n1","tag-row","tag-silences","tag-team","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nMuzzling order comes just as news breaks of major H5N1 outbreak on Long Island duck farm<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n“It’s like a deep freeze!”<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n“Don’t say nothin’ bad about my baby!”<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n“99,000 birds will be euthanized”<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nTrump tried to muzzle CDC in 2020,\u00a0 too<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n“Some exceptions” also “subject to review”<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nSharing information & expertise<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWithdrawing from WHO increases Chinese influence<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n“Not in American interests”<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nReality tells a different story<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nTimeline<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n1.2 million American dead<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nVaccine development grant<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPlease donate to support our work:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
www.animals24-7.org\/donate\/<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n