Bird Flu: The “Next Pandemic” Is Right On Schedule

Authored by Kit Knightly via Off-Guardian.org,

We haven’t published anything about bird flu since June. There hasn’t been much to say. Nevertheless, I still regularly comb through journals and news sites, ensuring we don’t miss anything potentially important.

During one such search yesterday evening I found this article in the journal Science, its title asking simply:

Why hasn’t the bird flu pandemic started?

…and, you know what, that’s a good question. Why hasn’t the bird flu pandemic started?

Not literally, of course. The bird flu “pandemic” won’t ever really start. If or when it is declared it will be a lie, just like Covid.

The question is why haven’t they started the big roll out yet?

That is obviously the plan after all.

The establishment has been signposting “the next pandemic” since before Covid sidled off the world stage. “Pandemic preparedness” has been a buzz phrase at all the intergovernmental panels and UN summits for at least two years. All the indications were that bird flu was the anointed successor.

But it’s all come to nothing so far.

Bird flu hasn’t become “the next pandemic”, it hasn’t become really anything at all, it’s barely even grazed the major news cycle.

Instead, the story has been stuck in a strange holding pattern, circling around with dire warnings of imminent danger, only to swoop away from the runway before its wheels touch down.

A pot that never boils despite the fact nobody’s really watching.

Why hasn’t the bird flu pandemic happened yet? What are they waiting for?

Well, Donald Trump, apparently, amongst other things.

That’s isn’t speculation, it’s definite messaging. It looks as if some sort of narrative about Trump failing to do enough, or the right things to handle the “crisis” might be in the offing.

Earlier today, MSNBC ran the headline:

Why the threat of bird flu makes Trump’s transition problematic – Could an unqualified public health leadership team deal with a new pandemic?

Mother Jones thinks “Avian Flu Could Define Trump’s Second Presidency”, the Nation asks simply “Will There Be a Bird Flu Epidemic Under Trump?”, AXIOS claims Trump’s potential bird flu response “raises alarms”.

NOTUS is already explaining why Trump’s planned mass deportations will make bird flu worse.

On November 26th, a guest article in the New York Times headlined “I Ran Operation Warp Speed. I’m Concerned About Bird Flu”, which opens:

As Donald Trump gets ready to return to the White House on Jan. 20, he must be prepared to tackle one issue immediately: the possibility that the spreading avian flu might mutate to enable human-to-human transmission.

Hmmm… so why must Trump be prepared to tackle bird flu “immediately” when they admit it has been hovering around being essentially harmless for two years already? Are they perchance conditioning us for what they already know they have planned?

Beyond Trump, the bird flu narrative has been migrating to the front pages in the weeks since the election (just in time to drive up the price of Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys too – every little helps in the drive to impoverish and immiserate the 99%).

On November 25th, New York magazine was warning us about the USA’s “alarming bird flu strategy”.

The next day, the Independent reported:

Experts say bird flu is more widespread than we think: ‘We are in a soup of virus’

The New Scientist says “H5N1 bird flu is closer to gaining pandemic potential than we thought”, Scientific American that “Bird Flu Virus Is One Mutation Away from Binding More Efficiently to Human Cells”.

These are both stories from the last 24 hours.

Earlier today, TIME published a long piece headlined:

It’s Time to End the Denial About Bird Flu

There are other developments to – some potentially a lot more meaningful than your run-of-the-mill fear porn.

On November 19th, a child in Canada reportedly tested positive for bird flu without coming into contact with birds or animals. The next day, the same exact thing was reported in California.

These “cases” allegedly indicate “the virus is showing signs of adaptation to human hosts”. A Dutch study done on ferrets and published three days ago, claims the latest variant of bird flu shows increased aerial transmissibility.

Just today, the US government ordered that – going forward – all milk has to be screened for bird flu before being pasteurized.

We’re being told about new test kits too, a breakthrough that can distinguish flu strains in just 3 hours.

The European Union has announced they will be “increasing monitoring” for bird flu going forward. Euractiv reports “Europe increases bird flu monitoring – is it the next Disease X?”

Chinese experts are warning that another strain – H2N2 rather than H5N1 – may have already jumped to humans. The Chinese government is reportedly planning to increase testing and surveillance.

In the UK, the Cambridge University journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology published new recommendations for the potential containment of avian influenza in “healthcare settings”.

And of course there’s the vaccines, let’s not forget those. Keir Starmer’s government just signed a supply contract for five million doses. Very odd for a country without a single case so far.

Again, all those stories are from the last 2 or 3 days, and they hit some major talking points. Transmissibility, tests, adapting to humans, containment measures for hospitals, “increased monitoring”, buying up vaccines…these are major red flags.

This is exactly in line with our predictions for the next pandemic made back in April:

When will the “next pandemic” happen? Probably not until the winter, I would guess January 2025 at the earliest, for two reasons:

1. They need it to be flu season so they can co-opt normal seasonal deaths into their “pandemic” narrative.

2. I think they’ll want to wait until after the “big election year” is over so there are fresh governments in place.

Is that why the bird flu pandemic “hasn’t happened yet”? Were they waiting to get other pieces in the right places on the board?

Maybe 2025 is the year it all comes together.

Bird flu has been useful for driving up the cost of food, campaigning against organic farms, further impoverishing farmers and demonising raw milk, but it was meant for bigger things.

After Donald Trump takes office, don’t be surprised of Bird Flu is finally allowed to spread its wings and fly.