Editorial: Bird flu affects egg supplies; will public accept vaccinated chickens to bring prices down?

Egg prices are nearing $6 a dozen in some areas, mostly because millions of hens have been slaughtered due to the bird flu pandemic. Vaccines are available, but will consumers accept them just to lower prices?

The price of eggs has been a major political issue for more than a year. Republicans hammered the increases to convince voters that the Joe Biden administration was causing rampant inflation; it’s largely accepted as a main reason Donald Trump won a new term as president.

But as those prices continue to rise, Trump and his party are facing similar allegations that they can’t fulfill their promise to bring prices down, or that they are now contributing to a new inflationary wave.

As with most popular campaign issues, however, the reality is more complex. Just like the inflation during the Biden years was largely a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the botched responses to it that were taken during Trump’s first term as well as Biden’s, egg and poultry prices are being driven primarily by a new pandemic, of avian flu.

That outbreak has led to the slaughter of more than 166 million laying and meat hens, which has led to a massive shortage of eggs those hens would have produced. The availability of comestible poultry has also been affected, although not as much.

It’s the flu virus, and the culling of the flocks, is the main reason shoppers have found soaring egg prices as well as shortages at the stores.

Of course, the issue has other ramifications as well. With people eating fewer eggs, we can expect children in the Rio Grande Valley and elsewhere will find fewer cascarrones in the yard on Easter Sunday.

There is a way to address the egg and chicken shortage, but it might be a hard sell in this country: Vaccinating the chickens.

Yes, a bird flu vaccine exists for chickens, just like similar vaccines for people.

Many poultry farmers have been inoculating their poultry for years, simply adding the medication to the birds’ feed or water.

A customer browses for eggs at Safeway, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in Seattle. (Lindsey Wasson/AP Photo)

Such chemical additives to U.S. food has met with resistance; genetically modified foods, and even the seeds that produce some of those foods, has met widespread resistance — even attempts to ban GMO foods outright — despite the reported safety and obvious benefits with regard to lowering costs, increasing shelf life and reducing waste.

One of Gulf shrimpers’ most popular selling points for their open-water product is that farm-raised shrimp are heavily laden with antibiotics to ensure their safety, since they are raised in enclosed tanks.

Similarly, the poultry industry is among those resisting vaccination of U.S. poultry because producers fear the buying public won’t want chemically altered food, even if it’s safer. Like GMO, some have called for bans on vaccinated chickens.

As with most matters, it’s best to let those consumers decide for themselves, rather than presume what they’ll do. Chicken farmers should be able to choose whether or not to inoculate their birds, and people can choose to buy vaccinated produce if they wish, or pay more for “organic” unvaccinated poultry.

Allowing that freedom of choice, with assurances of proper labeling, seems the best option.

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