CDC FluView hasn't been updated in a month, so I will start posting Philadelphia flu activity updates weekly. It is especially important to track flu in the US this year, since there are reports of a severe early flu season in parts of Asia. The PA department of health also has a nice website. 1/2

After a quiet summer, the bird flu virus H5N1 is hitting poultry flocks hard in the run-up to the holidays — and in the midst of a federal government shutdown. w/ @emilyanthes.bsky.social (Gift article) www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/h...

Reports of severe flu cases in Hong Kong. If I was a politician, I would strengthen international collaborations to study infectious diseases in other countries. Now is a good time to get a seasonal flu vaccine in the US…there are signs we could have an early season. www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/...

Our lab's first paper is out! Led by Jordan Ort, we developed NextClade datasets that enable rapid H5 clade assignment via NextClade. We deployed these during the start of the H5 cattle outbreak, and we finally published the paper in Virus Evolution academic.oup.com/ve/article/1...

I'm proud of our new study showing that some people born in the 1990s have high levels of antibodies that cross-react to H3 viruses from the 1990s and....contemporary H1N1 viruses. Such a surprising story led by Grace Li, in collaboration with many Penn-CEIRR labs. 1/ www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Pennsylvania has now joined with our other northeastern states to create the Northeast Public Health Collaborative to protect public health, provide vaccine recommendations and share expertise.   Protecting public health only works when we’re united.

In June, an ACIP member said that 250 pediatric flu deaths were no big deal. Maybe today we will find out that a handful of hepatitis B related cancers, transplants, and deaths are also not a big deal to them either. Welcome to the new public health. We are aligned to a manifesto, not science.

In new study led by @ckikawa.bsky.social, we provide near real-time data on human neutralizing antibody landscape to influenza by measuring ~26,000 titers to >100 recent viral strains Data can inform vaccine selection & evolutionary/epidemiological modeling www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A few months ago, when asked if his Nobel prize changed his science, David Baltimore said "I got into science because I love data. And the only thing I really care about in my life is data. And for that reason I didn't stop doing science because I won an award." www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqUK...

A new study led by @cambupenn.bsky.social Jordan Ort in my lab was posted on medRxiv. We found that humans infected with H1N1 viruses in childhood have high levels of Abs that cross-react to the NA of H5N1 viruses...decades after their childhood H1N1 infections. 1/ www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Looks like one of our ‘imprinting’ papers was cited in the HHS data package, despite our conclusion that people receiving an ancestral mRNA vaccine were better at producing antibodies against variants compared to unvaccinated people.

“Dr. Bhattacharya might not realize that many human vaccines are based on live attenuated viruses, where we similarly cannot definitively quantify antigen amounts produced in recipients. The mRNA and live attenuated vaccine platforms have both proven to be safe and effective in clinical studies.”

Science and health shouldn’t be wrapped up into politics. This leaves the US woefully unprepared for the next pandemic.

The former NIH director on the catastrophe unfolding for American research. youtu.be/lW9c6t4potU

Dissolving ACIP is an absolute mistake. We need accurate information—not fringe theories—guiding government recommendations on which vaccines to give which people.

Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) is now the definitive source for evidence-based vaccine recommendations in North America. www.canada.ca/en/public-he...

Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.

Happy to be part of @kingofpathogens.bsky.social study showing mRNAs encoding IL-12 enhance CD8 T cell responses to co-administered HA mRNA vaccines. Study led by Emily Aunins and Anthony Phan from the Hunter lab @upenn.edu www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Anyone that has been around a lab knows that the trainees really drive the research, while most professors just sort of guide the ship. Most innovation comes from our trainees. Old professors like me will be able to survive these cuts, but our young scientists and our future will be destroyed.

Once viewed as the path out of the pandemic, mRNA vaccines are now being vilified — & not just by fringe figures. The attack on this important platform could render the US far more vulnerable in the next pandemic & trailing China in the field of scientific advances. www.statnews.com/2025/06/02/m...

This group from China is working on H5 mRNA vaccines similar to the ones we developed in the United States. Based on the Moderna news yesterday, it is clear that we will likely rely on vaccines from other countries to protect us in the event of a flu pandemic. www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...

Nice coverage of our H5 mRNA work by Jon LaPook tonight on @cbseveningnews.bsky.social www.cbsnews.com/video/the-sc...

There is an H3N2 variant that is rising in frequency that has the potential to evade immunity from the 2025-2026 Northern Hemisphere vaccine. Imagine if we had a vaccine platform that could be easily updated today so that we could have a better matched vaccine by September? #mRNA

This is a terrible decision. Our ability to respond to pandemic influenza viruses is now severely compromised.

Check out this news story that @nature.com wrote describing our recent preprint where we tested our H5 mRNA vaccine in calves. The data look good and we are currently testing the vaccine in lactating cattle...more to come!

To be clear, these kinds of breakthroughs are going to come to a screeching halt with the current NIH funding cuts. This new treatment is only possible because of decades of basic research. What might be possible 20 years from now if we don't destroy basic research? www.nature.com/articles/d41...

“It is exciting to see funding for multivalent inactivated influenza vaccines, but it will be important to continue funding other promising platforms as well, like mRNA vaccines that can simultaneously deliver dozens of influenza vaccine antigens.”

We tested our H5 mRNA-LNP vaccine in calves (!!!), and I’m happy to report that the vaccine was highly immunogenic. Current studies are underway to evaluate the vaccine in lactating dairy cattle. Fantastic collaboration between Penn and the USDA, funded via the NIH. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

HHS announced an initiative to develop a multivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (with antigens from 4 flu viruses). This vaccine has potential, but don't forget we were able to create a multivalent vaccine with 20 different HA antigens using the mRNA platform! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Three members of Penn-CEIRR were elected to the NAS this week! Congrats Amy Baker, Daniel Perez, and @ejohnwherry.bsky.social! www.nasonline.org/news/2025-na...

Important work from Tavis Anderson and our Penn-CEIRR USDA colleagues: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

After 8 months of peer review, our manuscript was published today @nature.com showing that bovine H5N1 viruses bind poorly to human-type sialic acid receptors. We now know that the virus is only 1 HA substitution away from efficiently binding human receptors. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Nice story on Far-UVC light and pandemic preparedness by Jon LaPook @cbsnews.com www.youtube.com/watch?featur...

A 2nd child has died in Texas from #measles, the 3rd US death in 2025. Context: There have been as many measles deaths this year in the US as there were in the previous 24 years. It's only early April. 2025 is on track to be a very bad measles year. Chart is confirmed cases as of 4/3/25.

BREAKING: Mexico reports its first human case of H5N1 bird flu, source unknown. The patient - a 3-year-old girl from Durango - is in serious condition.

NEW: 3-year-old boy in Cambodia dies after testing positive for H5N1 bird flu. The boy became ill after his family used sick chickens for cooking.

What research is important to prepare and respond to #H5N1 influenza outbreaks? Join the WHO webinar TODAY at 13:00 CET as experts explore: ✅ Knowledge gaps & priority research areas ✅ Regulatory pathways for mRNA vaccines & novel approaches ✅ Therapeutic options Register now 👉 bit.ly/4iT0nrS

Today @natmedicine.bsky.social published our study showing the older individuals born prior to 1968 have more antibodies that cross-react to #H5N1 relative to younger individuals. If H5N1 causes a pandemic, children will likely be the most susceptible. 1/2 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ending this BARDA-funded project would be a major mistake. We can complete a lot of early stage clinical immunogenicity and safety studies before a pandemic. Would save a lot of time in the event of a pandemic.

A child has died in Texas from #measles, which is a vaccine preventable disease. Yet neither the HHS Secretary, nor his department, nor the #CDC has publicly urged parents of unvaccinated children to get their kids vaccinated. The silence is stunning. www.statnews.com/2025/02/27/t...

This is devastating and preventable. I feel so bad for the child, as well as the parents who likely received misinformation.

#ACIP, the expert panel that advises #CDC on vaccine policy, will not meet next week. #HHS, which never gave final approval for the meeting, per sources, suggests it will be rescheduled, but gives no date. www.statnews.com/2025/02/20/a...

"If the virus figures out a way to adapt and start transmitting between humans, infections in the general population could go up exponentially overnight." www.wsj.com/health/bird-...

Indirect costs support our entire research infrastructure. Without indirect costs, we wouldn’t have been able to develop this vaccine against H5N1 bird flu. If indirect costs are cut, we won’t be able to prepare and respond to our next pandemic threat. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

BREAKING: Dairy cows in Nevada have been infected with a new form of bird flu that is distinct from the version that has been spreading through herds over the last year w/ @emilyanthes.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/h...

This is big because: 1. This is evidence of a 2nd avian-->cattle H5N1 introduction. 2. The D1.1 genotype was found in the severe case in British Columbia and the deadly case in Louisiana. It is possible that this genotype has an easier time adapting to human cells. www.statnews.com/2025/02/05/u...

Here is a quick 1 minute video describing why it is important to continue to fund avian flu research and why H5N1 is a serious pandemic threat. penntoday.upenn.edu/news/avian-f...

It is striking how H1N1 and H3N2 have been co-circulating this season with an almost 50/50 split. Usually we see one subtype dominate. The most recent CDC report shows flu activity increasing in the US, still mostly H1N1 and H3N2 with little flu B. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...

I met with the PA Lt. Governor yesterday to discuss our avian flu research at Penn. I found that @lgaustindavis.bsky.social and his staff were super sharp and genuinely interested in learning. We may be entering a period where we heavily rely on states for pandemic preparedness and communication.