The H5N1 virus has killed millions of poultry, driving up the price of eggs and causing some shortages.  Amid an escalating bird flu outbreak spreading in the United States, federal health officials have begun to brief members of the incoming Trump administration about how they’ve responded to the crisis so far.

“We sent them all of the information on our work,” said a Biden administration health official familiar with transition briefings within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s the first indication that the two administrations appear to be working together to prioritize the H5N1 response.  

Until now, it was unclear whether the Biden White House and Trump’s incoming health team had discussed bird flu in any transition meetings. A lack of coordination between the two groups would have huge consequences, public health officials and infectious disease experts warn. They worry that the H5N1 virus has the potential to set off another human pandemic.

“You’ve got something that’s clearly evolving here in the United States,” said Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an infectious diseases expert and professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. 

Sharing surveillance information and resources is crucial to understanding and getting ahead of emerging viral threats like bird flu, said Howard Koh, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who was assistant secretary of health and human services for health in the Obama administration. 

“These teams have a shared responsibility to prioritize continuity of operations. That means maximizing preparedness to the fullest, especially after Covid,” he said. “Anything else is unacceptable.” Koh wasn’t involved with transition teams during his time with the Obama administration.

Neither Trump nor his pick for health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has publicly suggested how the Trump administration would handle the outbreak. What’s more, Kennedy’s team has signaled it didn’t see value in seeking input from Biden health officials. 

In a statement, Katie Miller, a spokesperson for Kennedy, said via text that the American people “don’t want or need the Biden administration to tell us how to do anything.”

“What would career bureaucrats who failed our nation during COVID know how to handle anything,” Miller added. “They have failed beyond measure on every national crisis.”