Nirav D. Shah, the Principal Deputy Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recently met with state health officials to discuss farmworker protection and the distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) for avian influenza. The meeting included representatives from public health emergency preparedness directors, state epidemiologists, state public health veterinarians, and leadership from public health partner organizations.
During the meeting, CDC requested that jurisdictions make PPE available to workers on dairy farms, poultry farms, and in slaughterhouses. Specifically, they asked state health departments to collaborate with their agriculture department counterparts and community partners, such as farmworker organizations, to coordinate and facilitate the distribution of PPE. Shah emphasized prioritizing the distribution of PPE to farms where a cow was confirmed to be infected with avian flu, noting that some states have already begun distributing PPE to dairy farms. Jurisdictions were encouraged to use existing PPE stockpiles for this effort and provided information on how to request additional PPE from HHS/ASPR’s strategic national stockpile if needed.
While the immediate risk to the U.S. public from avian influenza remains low, Shah emphasized the importance of states taking action to protect individuals with work exposures who may be at higher risk of infection. CDC has been actively engaging with state and local health departments, farmworker organizations
