Vermont veterinarians urge stepped-up H5N1 surveillance, highlight workforce and grant needs

Dr. Karen Bradley, a Berlin-based veterinarian speaking on behalf of the Vermont Veterinary Medical Association, told the House Agriculture Committee on Feb. 11 that the state needs more frequent, coordinated surveillance for H5N1 avian influenza and clearer testing of agricultural products to reduce risk to animals and people.

Bradley told the committee she appreciated passage of S.58 last year to limit non‑veterinary possession of xylazine and said the association supports federal scheduling that would protect legitimate veterinary use while criminalizing illicit possession. She also urged continued or increased funding for the Vermont Food Animal Veterinary Education Loan Repayment Grant, a state program that currently provides about $30,000 per year divided among recipients who agree to work in shortage areas.

The Vermont Veterinary Medical Association (VVMA) represents roughly 385 licensed veterinarians in the state, Bradley said, and about 85% of practicing veterinarians are association members. She told the committee many food‑animal veterinarians graduate with heavy educational debt—“a hundred and 80 to $280,000,” she said—which the loan repayment program helps to address; the grant is typically split among about three recipients and requires recipients to practice in designated shortage areas for the grant year.

Bradley’s primary concern in her testimony was H5N1, which she said has been widely detected in wild and domestic birds elsewhere and has been found intermittently in Vermont backyard flocks. She summarized national and state surveillance figures as she understands them, attributing the numbers to federal reporting and surveillance: "there's been 23000000 birds infected with this virus since 2022," she said, and she said about 68 people in the United States have fallen ill with strains related to H5, with one death reported. In Vermont she said there were small backyard‑flock positives in 2022 and 2023 and additional detections in late 2024.

Bradley said the committee should expect and request regular updates from the Vermont Department of Health and the Agency of Agriculture on surveillance testing. She flagged two specific exposure pathways that warrant testing: raw milk and raw poultry (including backyard flocks), noting that commercial bulk‑tank milk is being monitored in some surveillance programs but that testing for raw milk intended for direct human or pet consumption may be inconsistent.

She emphasized the veterinary concern about companion animals as a potential bridge: "The biggest thing, the reason I said the Department of Health, is the jump to the human population," Bradley said, and later warned that a recently detected strain in milk contains a genetic variation she described as "one step away from being able to be human human or cat to human. So we're right there." She recommended the committee press for continued human and animal surveillance and coordination between public health and agricultural agencies.

Bradley also discussed trends in veterinary practice: the state’s food‑animal veterinary workforce is thin, the loan repayment grant is one tool to recruit and retain practitioners in shortage areas, and technology such as on‑farm sensors and herd monitoring has changed how large farms interact with veterinarians. She thanked lawmakers for the xylazine legislation and asked for federal scheduling to prevent illicit diversion while preserving veterinary access.

No formal committee votes or directives were recorded during Bradley’s appearance; her testimony concluded with committee members exchanging brief questions and thanking her for the update. The committee did not announce any immediate actions in the transcript.