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The influenza division at the CDC lost staff to probationary firings as well as on Valentine's Day when further staff were fired en masse.

Their vaccine is made by inactivating influenza viruses with a carcinogenic chemical called beta-propiolactone.

In the past three years, outbreaks of bird flu, formally called highly pathogenic avian influenza, in wild animals spilled over to dairy cows and poultry, infecting several dozen humans and even killing one American.

But the disease would once again become endemic, meaning ever-present at some baseline level, like influenza, which sickens millions and kills thousands in the U.S. every year.

A 5% increase in vaccination coverage can reduce symptomatic influenza cases across all age groups, especially in preschool children and adults ages 65 and older.