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By Leah Douglas
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives oversight committee opened an investigation on Tuesday into health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s handling of the federal response to bird flu, according to a letter sent to Kennedy and released by the committee.
Kennedy, a long-time vaccine skeptic, has said that he does not support a bird flu vaccine for poultry. He has instead suggested that the virus should be allowed to spread among chickens to identify those with natural resistance.
Health experts have said that the approach would not work and risks allowing the virus to mutate in ways that could make it transmissible among people, possibly triggering a pandemic.
Bird flu has killed nearly 170 million chickens, turkeys and other birds since the current outbreak began in 2022. The virus has increasingly spread to humans and other mammals since 2024.
"Allowing avian flu to ravage flocks across the country is dangerous and reckless," said the letter sent by Gerald Connolly, the top Democrat on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on the health subcommittee, and three other members of Congress.
The letter requests information on communication between Kennedy's Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as experts consulted by HHS on bird flu.
HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has said that she has met with Kennedy several times about bird flu and a spokesperson said they are "aligned on approach," but did not expanded on her position.
The USDA said on March 20 that it is investing $100 million to research vaccines and other therapeutics for bird flu.
The USDA said on a webinar on Tuesday that it has consulted with the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine about potential therapeutics to address bird flu.
Some staff involved in the bird flu response at CVM were fired on Tuesday as part of mass layoffs at HHS.
(Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington; Additional reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago ;Editing by Bill Berkrot, Marguerita Choy and Mark Porter)
