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CNN Live Today

President Bush Outlines Flu Pandemic Strategy

Aired November 01, 2005 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are standing by for President Bush, who is taking steps to prevent what could become a pandemic. The president front and center this morning at the National Institutes of Health. He is expected to speak in about 10 minutes, addressing a growing concern in the U.S., bird flu, spreading across the globe and now just one type, just across one U.S. border. Extensive coverage ahead this hour.
First, though, let's take a quick look at what's happening "Now in the News."

Congressman Tom DeLay due back in court next hour to seek the removal of the judge assigned to his criminal trial. Lawyers for the Texas Republicans say the judge has contributed to Democratic candidates and causes and may be biased in the politically-charged case. DeLay was forced to step down as House majority leader after he was charged with criminal conspiracy and money laundering.

The U.S. military reports that an American soldier has been killed in Iraq's Anbar Province west of Baghdad. According to a statement, the American who was attached to the 155th brigade combat team was killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol near Haswa.

The U.S. military is reporting the combat death of its highest ranking officer yet in the Iraq War. Colonel William Wood (ph) had responded to a roadside bomb when a secondary explosion killed him. At the time of his death, Wood was unaware he had been approved for promotion to colonel from lieutenant colonel.

Three hours from now, just after 1:00 Eastern, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has scheduled a Pentagon briefing. CNN plans live coverage of that as well.

This hour, at London's famed St. Paul's Cathedral, a memorial service for victims of the city's July 7th bombings. Fifty-two people were killed, some 700 others wounded in the suicide attacks. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth II will join more than 2,000 others at that ceremony.

The White House is ignoring calls for an apology and for a shake- up amid the ongoing CIA leak investigation. Administration critic Joe Wilson, whose wife was exposed as a CIA operative, talked to our Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. Wilson says Presidential Adviser Karl Rove should not be allowed to resign if he becomes the second Bush official to be charged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE WILSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR: I think that Karl Rove should be fired. I think that this idea that you can with impunity call journalists and leak national security information is repugnant. It is not fitting for a senior White House official. It is below any standard of ethical comportment, even if it is not technically illegal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The special prosecutor in charge of the probe says Rove remains under scrutiny. We'll have more of that interview and the investigations following up ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY.

And good morning. Good to be with you on this Tuesday morning, as we look at a live picture from Bethesda, Maryland. President Bush there getting ready to speak on the bird flu.

I'm Daryn Kagan. We'll be listening in to President Bush in just a minute. He's going to be talking about a plan that will cost billions of dollars in supplemental spending. The president will also talk about other types of flu that could develop into a pandemic.

And Mr. Bush will tell individual Americans what they can do to stop the spread of any kind of flu. Part of the strategy is to have state and local officials lead the way in caring for their own people. Health and Human Service Secretary Mike Leavitt was speaking about that. Here now is President Bush.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thanks. Please be seated. Thank you all.

Michael, thank you very much for your introduction. And thanks for the warm reception here at the National Institute of Health. It's good to be back here again.

For more than the century, the NIH has been at the forefront of this country's efforts to prevent, detect and treat disease. And I appreciate the good work you're doing here. This is an important facility. It's an important complex. And it's the people who work here are really important to the security of this nation.

The scientists who have been supported by the folks who work here have developed and improved vaccines for meningitis and the whooping cough and measles and mumps and rubella and chicken pox and other infectious diseases. Because of the revolutionary advances in medicine pioneered with the help of the NIH, Americans no longer fear these dreaded diseases. Many lives have been saved.

At this moment, the men and women of NIH are working to protect the American people from another danger. The risk of avian and pandemic influenza. Today I've come to talk about our nation's efforts to address this vital issue to the health and the safety of all Americans. I'm here to discuss our strategy to prevent and protect the American people from possible outbreak.

I appreciate members of my cabinet who are here. More importantly, I appreciate the hard work you've done on this issue. Secretary Rice, Secretary Johanns, Secretary Mineta, Secretary Nicholson, Secretary Chertoff.

I appreciate the fact that Dr. J.W. Lee, director general of the World Health Organization, has joined us.

Dr. Lee, thank you for being here.

I want to recognize Dr. David Nabarro, the senior United Nation's system coordinator for avian and human influenza.

Thanks for being here.

This is you're about to hear me talk about the international scope of response and detection necessary to protect not only our own people, but people around the world. And the fact that these two gentlemen are here is an important signal.

I want to thank Dr. Elias Zarhouni. He's the director of the NIH.

You're doing a fine job.

I want to thank Julie Gerberding, who's the director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I appreciate Dr. Rich Carmona, the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Tony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. I want to thank Dr. Bruce Gellin, director of the National Vaccine Program Office. I want to thank Dr. Andy von Eschenbach, who's the acting director of the FDA, and the director of the National Cancer Institute.

I appreciate all the members of the healthcare community who have joined us today. I want to thank state and local officials who are here. I particularly want to thank Senator Specter and Kennedy for coming, as well as Congressman Linder, Burgess and Price. I appreciate you all taking time to be here.

Most Americans are familiar with the influenza or the flu as a respiratory illness that makes hundreds of thousands of people sick every year. This fall, as the flu season approaches, millions of our fellow citizens are once again visiting the doctors for the annual flu shot. I had mine. For most, this is simply a precautionary measure to avoid the fever or sore throat or muscle aches that come with the flu.

Seasonal flu is extremely dangerous for some. People whose immune systems have been weakened by age or illness. But it is not usually life-threatening for most healthy people.

Pandemic flu is another matter. Pandemic flu occurs when a new strain of influenza emerges that can be transmitted easily from person to person and for which there's little or no natural immunity. Unlike seasonal flu, most people have not built up resistance to it. And unlike seasonal flu, it can kill those who are young and healthy, as well as those who are frail and sick. At this moment, there is no pandemic influenza in the United States or the world. But if history is our guide, there is reason to be concerned. In the last century, our country and the world have been hit by three influenza pandemics and viruses from birds contributed to all of them.

The first, which struck in 1918, killed over a half a million Americans and more than 20 million people across the globe. One-third of the U.S. population was infected and life expectancy in our country was reduced by 13 years. In 1918 pandemic was followed by pandemics in 1957, in 1968, which killed tens of thousands of Americans and millions across the world.

Three years ago, the world had a preview of the disruption and influenza pandemic can cause when a previously unknown virus called SARS appeared in rural China. When an infected doctor carried the virus out of China, it spread to Vietnam and Singapore and Canada within a month. Before long, the SARS virus had spread in nearly 30 countries on six continents. It infected more than 8,000 people and killed nearly 800.

One elderly woman brought the virus from Hong Kong to Toronto where it quickly spread to her son and then to others. Eventually four others arrived with the virus and hundreds of Canadians fell ill with SARS and dozens died. By one estimate, the SARS outbreak cost the Asian Pacific region about $40 billion.

The airline industry was hit particularly hard with air travel to Asia dropping 45 percent in the year after the outbreak. All this was caused by a limited outbreak of a virus that infected thousands and lasted about six months. The global influenza pandemic that infects millions and lasts from one to three years could be far worse.

Scientists and doctors cannot tell us where or when the next pandemic will strike or how severe it will be, but most agree, at some point we are likely to face another pandemic. And the scientific community is increasingly concerned by a new influenza virus known as H5N1, or avian flu, that is now spreading through bird populations across Asia and has recently reached Europe.

This new strain of influenza has infected domesticated birds like ducks and chickens, as well as long range migratory birds. In 1997, the first recorded outbreak among people took place in Hong Kong when 18 people became infected and six died from the disease. Public health officials in the region took aggressive action and successively contained the spread of the virus.

avian flu struck again in late 2003 and has infected over 120 people in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia and killed more than 60. That's the fatality rate of about 50 percent.

At this point, we do not have evidence that a pandemic is imminent. Most of the people in Southeast Asia who got sick were handling infected birds. And while the avian flu virus has spread from Asia to Europe, there are no reports of infected birds, animals or people in the United States. Even if the virus does eventually appear on our shores and birds, that does not mean people in our country will be infected. Avian flu is still primarily an animal disease. And as of now, unless people come into direct, sustained contact with infected birds, it is unlikely they will come down with avian flu.

While avian flu has not yet acquired the ability to spread easily from human to human, there is still cause for vigilance. The virus has developed some characteristics need to cause a pandemic. It has demonstrated the ability to infect human beings and it has produced a fatal illness in humans. If a virus were to develop the capacity for sustained human to human transmission, it could spread quickly across the globe.

Our country has been given fair warning of this danger to our homeland and time to prepare it. It's my responsibility, as a president, to take measures now to protect the American people from the possible that human to human transmission may occur.

So several months ago I directed all relevant departments and agencies in the federal government to take steps to address the threat of avian and pandemic flu. Since that time, my administration has developed a comprehensive, national strategy with concrete measures we can take to prepare for an influenza pandemic. Today, I'm announcing key elements of that strategy.

Our strategy is designed to meet three critical goals. First, we must detect outbreaks that occur anywhere in the world. Second, we must protect the American people by stockpiling vaccines and antiviral drugs and improve our ability to rapidly produce new vaccines against a pandemic strain. And third, we must be ready to respond at the federal, state and local levels in the event that a pandemic reaches our shores.

To meet these three goals, our strategy will require the combined efforts of government officials and public health, medical, veterinary and law enforcement communities and the private sector. It will require the active participation of the American people. And it will require the immediate attention of the United States Congress so we can have the resources in place to begin implementing this strategy right away.

The first part of our strategy is to detect outbreaks before they spread across the world. In the fight against avian and pandemic flu, early detection is our first line of defense. Pandemic is a lot like a forest fire. If caught early, it might be extinguished with limited damage. If allowed to smolder undetected, it can grow to an inferno that spreads quickly beyond our ability to control it. So we're taking immediate steps to ensure early warning of an avian or pandemic flu outbreak among animals or humans anywhere in the world.

In September at the United Nations, I announced a new international partnership on avian and pandemic influenza. A global network of surveillance and preparedness that will help us to detect and respond quickly to any outbreaks of the disease. The partnership requires participating countries that face an outbreak to immediately share information and provide samples to the World Health Organization. By requiring transparency, we can respond more rapidly to dangerous outbreaks.

Since we announced this global initiative, the response from across the world had been very positive. Already 88 countries and nine international organizations have joined the effort. Senior officials from participating governments recently convened the partnership's first meeting here in Washington. Together, we're working to control and monitor avian flu in Asia and to ensure that all nations have structures in place to recognize and report outbreaks before they spread beyond human control.

Requested $251 million from Congress to help our foreign partners to train local medical personnel, expand their surveillance and testing capacity, draw up preparedness plans and take other vital actions to detect and contain outbreaks. A flu pandemic would have global consequences. So no nation can afford to ignore this threat. And every nation has responsibilities to detect and stop its spread.

Here in the United States, we're doing our part. To strengthen domestic surveillance, my administration is launching the National Biosurveillance Initiative. This initiative will help us rapidly detect, quantify and respond to outbreaks of disease in humans and animals and deliver information quickly to state and local and national and international public health officials. By creating systems that provide continuous situational awareness, we're more likely to be able to stop, slow or limit the spread of the pandemic and save American lives.

The second part of our strategy is to protect the American people by stockpiling vaccines and antiviral drugs and accelerating development of new vaccine technologies. One of the challenges presented by a pandemic is that scientists need a sample of the new strain before they can produce a vaccine against it. This means it is difficult to produce a pandemic vaccine before the pandemic actually appears. And so there may not be a vaccine capable of fully immunizing our citizens from the new influenza virus during the first several month of a pandemic.

To help protect our citizens during these early months when a fully effective vaccine would not be available, we're taking a number of immediate steps. Researchers here at the NIH have developed a vaccine based on the current strain of the avian flu virus. The vaccine is already in clinical trials. And I'm asking that the Congress fund $1.2 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services to purchase enough doses of this vaccine from manufacturers to vaccinate 20 million people.

This vaccine would not be a perfect match to the pandemic flu because the pandemic strain would probably differ somewhat from the avian flu virus it grew from. But a vaccine against the current avian flu virus would likely offer some protection against a pandemic strain and possibly save many lives in the first critical months of an outbreak.

We're also increasing stockpiles of antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza. Antiviral drugs cannot prevent people from contracting the flu, but they can reduce the severity of the illness when taken within 48 hours of getting sick. So in addition to vaccines which are the foundation of our pandemic response, I'm asking Congress for $1 billion to stockpile additional antiviral medications so that we have enough on hand to help treat first responders and those on the front lines, as well as populations most at risk in the first stages of a pandemic.

To protect the greatest possible number of Americans during a pandemic, the cornerstone of our strategy is to develop new technologies that will allow us to produce new vaccines rapidly. If a pandemic strikes, our country must have a surge capacity in place that will allow us to bring a new vaccine online quickly and manufacture enough to immunize every American against the pandemic strain.

I recently met with leaders of the vaccine industry. They assured me that they will work with the federal government to expand the vaccine industry so that our country is better prepared for any pandemic. Today, the NIH is working with vaccine makers to develop new cell culture techniques that will help us bring a pandemic flu vaccine to the American people faster in the event of an outbreak.

Right now, most vaccines are still produced with 1950s technology, using chicken eggs that are infected with the influenza virus and then used to develop and produce vaccines. In the event of a pandemic, this antiquated process would take many, many months to produce a vaccine and it would not allow us to produce enough vaccine for every American in time. Since American lives depend on rapid advances in vaccine production technology, we must fund a crash program to help our best scientists bring the next generation of technology online rapidly. I'm asking Congress for $2.8 billion to accelerate development of cell culture technology. By bringing cell culture technology from the research laboratory into the production line, we should be able to produce enough vaccine for every American within six months of the start of a pandemic.

I'm also asking Congress to remove one of the greatest obstacles to domestic vaccine production, the growing burden of litigation. In the past three decades, the number of vaccine manufacturers in America has plummeted as the industry has been flooded with lawsuits. Today there is only one manufacturer in the United States that can produce influenza vaccine. That leaves our nation vulnerable in the event of a pandemic.

We must increase the number of vaccine manufacturers in our country and improve our domestic production capacity so Congress must pass liability protection for the makers of life saving vaccines. By making wise investments in technology and breaking down barriers to vaccine production, we're working toward a clear goal. In the event of a pandemic, we must have enough vaccines for every American.

The third part of our strategy is to ensure that we are ready to respond to a pandemic outbreak. A pandemic is unlike other natural disasters. Outbreaks can happen simultaneously in hundreds or even thousands of locations at the same time. And unlike storms or floods, which strike in an instant and then recede, a pandemic can continue spreading destruction in repeated ways that can last for a year or more.

To respond to a pandemic, we must have emergency plans in place in all 50 states, in every local community. We must ensure that all levels of government are ready to act to contain an outbreak. We must be able to deliver vaccines and other treatments to front line responders and at-risk populations. So my administration is working with public health officials in the medical community to develop effective pandemic emergency plans.

We're working at the federal level. We're looking at ways and options to coordinate our response with state and local leaders. I've asked Mike Leavitt, Secretary Leavitt, to bring together state and local public health officials from across the nation to discuss their plans for a pandemic and to help them improve pandemic planing at the community level. I'm asking Congress to provide $583 million for pandemic preparedness, including $100 million to help states complete and exercise their pandemic plans now before a pandemic strikes. If an influenza pandemic strikes, every nation and every state in this union and every community in these states must be ready.

To respond to a pandemic, we need medical personnel and adequate supplies of equipment. In a pandemic, everything from syringes to hospital beds, respirators, masks and protective equipment would be in short supply. So the federal government is stockpiling critical supplies in locations across America as part of the strategic national stockpile. The Department of Health and Human Services is helping states create rosters of medical personnel who are willing to help alleviate local shortfalls during a pandemic. And every federal department involved in healthcare is expanding plans to ensure that all federal medical facilities, personnel and response capabilities are available to support local communities in the event of a pandemic crisis.

To respond to a pandemic, the American people need to have information to protect themselves and others. In a pandemic, an infection carried by one person can be transmitted to many other people. And so every American must take personal responsibility for stopping the spread of the virus.

To provide Americans with more information about pandemics, we're launching a new Web site, pandemicflu.gov. That ought to be easy for people to remember. Pandemicflu.gov. The Web site will keep our citizens informed about the preparations underway, steps they can take now to prepare for a pandemic and what every American can do to decrease their risk of contracting and spreading the disease in the event of an outbreak.

To respond to a pandemic, members of the international community will continue to work together. An influenza pandemic would be an event with global consequences and therefore we continue to meet to develop a global response. We've called nations together in the past and we'll continue to call nations together to work with public health experts to better coordinate our efforts to deal with a disaster.

And all of the steps I've outlined today require immediate resources. Because a pandemic could strike at any time, we can't waste time in preparing. So to meet all our goals, I'm requesting a total of $7.1 billion in emergency funding from the United States Congress. By making critical investments today, we'll strengthen our ability to safeguard the American people in the awful event of a deaf stating global pandemic, and at the same time we'll bring our nation's public health and medical infrastructure more squarely in the 21st century.

Steps I've outlined will also help our nation in other critical ways. By perfecting cell-based technologies now, we will be able to produce vaccines for a range of illnesses and save countless lives. By strengthening our domestic vaccine industry, we can help ensure that our nation will never again have a shortage of vaccine for seasonal flu.

And by putting in place and exercising pandemic emergency plans across the nation, we can help our nation prepare for other dangers such as a terrorist attack using chemical or biological weapons. Leaders at every level of government have a responsibility to confront dangers before they appear and engage the American people in the best course of action.

It is vital that our nation discuss and address the threat of pandemic flu now. There is no pandemic flu in our country or in the world at this time. But if we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare. And one day many lives could be needlessly lost because we failed to act today. By preparing now, we can give our citizens some peace of mind knowing that our nation is ready to act at the first sign of danger and that we have the plans in place to prevent and, if necessary, withstand an influenza pandemic.

Thank you for coming today to let me outline my strategy. Thank you to the United States Congress for considering this measure. May God bless you all.

KAGAN: That's President Bush speaking at the National Institutes of Health. He is talking about bird flu. Something that's been getting a lot of publicity and causing a lot of fear. And President Bush, in his remarks today, at first trying to calm some of those fears, pointing out that there have been no reports of bird flu here in the U.S., either in poultry or in people, and saying that only 62 people worldwide have been infected.

Still, he says that vigilance is important. He says has a three- part strategy in trying to prevent this from becoming a pandemic. Detect any outbreaks around the world, stockpile on vaccines and anti- viral drugs and also be ready and be able to respond in case this does, indeed, become a pandemic.

Three people we have to talk with us today about what the president was talking about in dealing with bird flu. We have our Jeanne Meserve in Washington, D.C. -- actually, that would be Elizabeth Cohen, sitting right next to me, our medical correspondent. There's Jeanne Meserve. You know, when you have such lovely ladies, you get them mixed up. And another lovely woman, we have Dr. Anne Moscona, who will be answering a lot of your questions on bird flu, what is it and what are you supposed to do to get ready? First, Jeanne, I'm going go to you, and let's talk about some of the things that President Bush is talking about doing in preventing this from becoming a pandemic.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, first he talked about international surveillance. Certainly anybody would tell you that's the keys to try and find any outbreak where it erupts and try and extinguish it there. However, a really problematic issue is really on the shoulders of the World Health Organization to do this. This is an organization that experts say has been chronically underfunded and understaffed. Also, cooperation with that organization is voluntary, it's not mandatory.

And we've seen in the past, in the case with SARS, for instance, that there are some countries who simply have not have been forthcoming with the information. There are also questions about the medical capabilities in some of those countries and their ability to detect something when it erupts, specifically in Asia, which is the most problematic area at this point in time.

Another area that the president addressed was the public health system in this country, calling for an investment in that, to help them better be able to detect an outbreak in this country. But this again, an area that has been underfunded and understaffed, according to most experts. Although a significant amount of money has been pumped into public health since 9/11, most experts will tell you it is nowhere near enough.

And although there are good surveillance capabilities in certain locales, specifically in places like New York City, in many other places, they say, the capabilities are very rudimentary. And they really question whether if a pandemic flu broke out in this country, we'd have the capability to track it in real time and respond to it in an effective way. So a couple of the things the president addressed, of course.

There also is the matter of vaccine. Perhaps Elizabeth is more qualified to talk to you a little more about that.

KAGAN: Yes, we're going to bring in Elizabeth; also, our doctor. Elizabeth, let's talk about, first of all, pandemic. What is it? And there was a little bit of a history lesson in the president's speech, in saying that -- how could you be overdue for a pandemic? How could be overdue for something that clearly you don't want to happen?

COHEN: Well, you just have to do the math. And you can see that we are overdue. There was an outbreak in 1918 and then there was another one in 1957, another one in 1968. So this is the longest that the world has gone since that -- since 1918, without a pandemic. It's simply time. And as a matter of fact, experts will tell you we're pretty lucky we haven't had one since then.

A pandemic, simply put, is a really big epidemic of worldwide proportion and happening all at the same time. And as the president said, it's not like a flood or hurricane, where it happens and then it's over. It goes on and on. It lasts for months. It lasts throughout the entire season and sometimes longer. And so that's what we need prepare for.

Now, Jeanne mentioned vaccine, and that is a huge problem. Right now there is no vaccine for the avian flu. That's the flu pandemic that people are mostly very scared about right now. And even if they did come up with what they needed to make a vaccine for, it would take months to make it, because as the president mentioned, we're relying on 1950s technology.

Experts have called the vaccine production system in this country fragile and rickety. Those are not good words. Those are not words you want to hear when you're talking about coming up with a vaccine.

Well, let's talk about antivirals. That's the medicine you give someone once they get sick. There simply isn't enough. There's enough for maybe one percent of the population. According to the World Health Organization, you need enough antivirals for 25 percent of the population. We're missing millions and millions of doses. And those are just two of the problems.

Another problem, Daryn, is a local health system. What do they do when they get the phone call from the pilot of a plane saying I'm nighing from Asia, there's someone really, really sick on my flight. I don't know what to do. When we land, what will do I with this person? Every single city needs to what to do in that scenario.

KAGAN: And have a plan in response. Let's bring in the doctor, Dr. Anne Moscona an expert on influenza. First of all, Dr. Moscona, we're thinking about something that , in a lot of ways, doesn't exist yet. All of this effort, all of this attention, billions of dollars, for something that only 62 people in the whole world has gotten. What is it about this particular disease that has people so frightened?

DR. ANNE MOSCONA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT: Well, you're exactly right. And I was glad to hear President Bush actually focus on the fact that we do not pandemic flu yet. However we have the warning signs. We have an influenza that, as the president mentioned, humans are immune, that has shown the ability to infect humans and cause lethal disease.

So we are preparing for the possibility that either this or a different strain of influenza will be able to be transmitted from person to person and then we will have a pandemic. However, he and you are correctly focusing on the fact that while we don't have a pandemic strain yet, we have a warning, giving us time, we hope, to prepare adequately for a virtually certain occurrence.

KAGAN: And also looking at exactly what the situation is right here in the U.S., no sign of bird flu. Not even in any poultry or the poultry industry. Certainly and not any people who would have it. Doctor?

MOSCONA: Yes, that's right. The point to understand, though, is that once, if and when this virus or another similar virus does acquire the ability to transmit itself from human to human, then global spread would be rapid unless it's stopped. So that during this period of time when, you're correct, the virus has only been spread, really, from birds to humans, this is the time window that we have in which to prepare for the that it could begin to be able to go from human to human.

We don't want to wait for that moment to begin to prepare, because with the global situation the way it is, with travel, international travel, so rapid, once we have a virus spreading between people, it's going to spread rapidly around the world.

KAGAN: We want to know something, Doctor, something you've written about, in terms of responsibility. We've heard the president talking a little bit about the responsibility to prevent this goes from worldwide health organizations all the way down to individuals and individual families.

So we know a lot of you at home have questions about how you can protect yourself and what you need to know for your families, so e- mail us and we're going to answer your questions. E-mail livetoday@CNN.com and we'll get to your answers after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: As expected you have a lot of questions at home about bird flu and what it means to you and your family. I want to welcome back Dr. Anne Moscona to answer some of those question.

And, Doctor, people are paying attention out there, so let's get right to the questions.

First of all, this one is from Anne in San Pedro, California.

She says, or asks, "If one is inoculated for the current strain, then a flu shot becomes available for avian flu, is it safe for a person to be inoculated for both in the same season?" Or is there any danger in that? Or are we getting ahead of ourselves, because there is no shot for bird flu right now.

MOSCONA: Right. Of course, we are getting ahead of ourselves, but just to dispel any concerns about that, I'll say that it would be absolutely safe. These will be two different vaccines, and they should not interfere with each other if given the appropriate distance of time apart.

So in the, let's hope, unlikely event that that's going happen, it would not be a problem.

KAGAN: And would this be a time you'd want to make a push for something people can do right now, and that's protect themselves against the influenza that we currently face and get a flu shot for the upcoming season.

MOSCONA: Thank you very much for giving me that chance. Yes, right now we are dealing with the yearly seasonal flu, which still makes a lot of people very sick and kills quite a few people in this country. So get out there and get your flu shot and get your loved ones to get vaccinated. Absolutely.

KAGAN: We move on to Karen in Michigan. She asks, "Can you catch the bird flu by feeding the birds in your backyard?"

MOSCONA: There aren't birds in this country that have avian flu yet. If we detect birds carrying the avian flu, the H5N1 strain, then we'll need to make decisions about people staying away from birds. At this point, it's absolutely not a problem. There's no bird flu here, so you can go ahead and feed the birds in your yard.

KAGAN: Good news for the birds and the squirrels that are stealing all their bird flu anyway.

Trudy in High Springs, Florida asks, "I can't take the flu shot due to allergies, and I have cancer. So what does a person with this kind of problem do?"

MOSCONA: Well, I don't know the details about this person, but let me just say that there are two types of flu vaccinations. One is the shot, which is pretty much good for everyone unless you're allergic to eggs, and the other is an inhaled vaccine, which is useful up to and including age 49 under certain circumstances.

I would suggest for this person to talk to her physician, because there is likely an option she can use to protect herself against seasonal influenza.

KAGAN: You know, that brings up an interesting point. President Bush was talking about getting a vaccine that's not egg based, but cell based. Why is that important?

MOSCONA: The egg-based system of making vaccines is very time consuming and also requires huge numbers of eggs, and it's very cumbersome. Theoretically, a cell-based vaccine development could be much quicker and much more streamlined, be brought to production situation much more rapidly and also be scaled up much more easily.

KAGAN: And another e-mail question for you, Doctor. This is from Jennifer in North Branch, Minnesota. She says her grandmother contracted a severe case of the 1918 flu and survived. Is it possible her future offspring may have developed a genetic resistance to similar flu strains including avian flu?

MOSCONA: That's a good question. Unfortunately, no. Unfortunately we don't have pass down that kind of immunity to our offspring. So each one of us has to face an influenza virus and mount an immune response, and hopefully a successful one, on our own.

KAGAN: A lot of good questions, even better answers. So, Doctor, if you'll stay with us, we're going to get to more questions from our viewers.

MOSCONA: Sure.

KAGAN: Once again, our e-mail address, livetoday@CNN.com. Send us your question avian bird flu. We'll be back with more answers after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: If you were with us a little bit earlier, President Bush making a speech, asking for $7.1 billion in government funds to attack what could be a pandemic of bird flu, something that has yet to show up in this country, either in the poultry industry or in humans, but the threat is out there.

So we've been answering your questions of what could happen and what you can do to protect yourselves, and with the answers, welcoming back Dr. Anne Moscona with the answers.

Let's go back to the e-mails. Dr. Moscona, this one is from Karen in Rochester, New Hampshire. Karen wants to know, she says, "I'm a flight attendant. Is my risk to contract this flu even greater?"

MOSCONA: Well, that's a good question. Remember, this flu is not out there. The flu is not spreading between people and between individuals, and so on a plane what you're at risk for are infectious diseases that spread between individuals. In the event that we have an avian flu pandemic, I'm certain that travel will be somewhat curtailed, and that precautions will be taken for people like yourself, who are in constant contact with people.

KAGAN: This questioning all of the way from Hawaii. Good morning, Hawaii, from Erin in Hawaii. She wants to know, "Should she stop eating poultry? Is there a threat of our supply being contaminated before we know it has been?"

And you know, Doctor, with Thanksgiving right around the corner, we're in prime poultry-eating season.

MOSCONA: Absolutely. And I want to reassure everybody that you can eat chicken, you can have your Thanksgiving turkey. This infection is not acquired from eating cooked meat. Cooked turkey, cooked chicken are completely fine. Just relax about that.

KAGAN: All right, Dr. Moscona, thank you for all those answers. Appreciate having you with us here today.

MOSCONA: Thank you.

KAGAN: Well, there is a critical element of dealing with the outbreak of bird flu if it happens, and that is rapid containment of the disease. The Doctor was just making mention of this.

Brian Todd looks at the quarantine plan, ideas that could appear in print. They might be, though, paper thin in reality.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): San Francisco International Airport, a major hub for passengers arriving from Asia. Now, in addition to security checks, screeners have another danger to look out for.

DENNIS NEVES, S.F. INTL. AIRPORT: If anyone is sick, has got a cough, sweating or something like that, they might want to pull them aside and see if there are some kind of symptoms.

TODD: Symptoms of avian flu, the disease with no proven vaccine that has killed at least 60 people in Asia. Human cases are now confined to four Asian countries, and avian flu has so far not proven to spread very easily between people.

But top health officials are very worried that the disease could mutate into a more easily spreadable form and travel around the globe as quickly as a flight from Asia to San Francisco. At San Francisco International and other U.S. airports, new quarantine stations have been set up to identify and isolate potential avian flu victims.

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control tell CNN they have quarantine stations at 11 international airports in the United States, with six more in development. But even at some stations identified as being up and running, like Washington's Dulles Airport, there are staff in place, but physical facilities have not been fully developed yet, and these stations are really just examination rooms where people are processed quickly, and then either sent to the hospital or sent on their way.

The head of the American Public Health Association, who's taking part in a study on the quarantine efforts, say their effectiveness is very limited.

DR. GEORGES BENJAMIN, AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION: The system that we have right now does not adequately protect the American people. Stand in a causeway as people depart the airplane and look and see if anybody's sick. And, obviously, unless someone is very ill, you're not going pick up any kind of disease.

TODD: Dr. Georges Benjamin says most avian flu victims who might spread the virus don't show any obvious symptoms at first, and may be long gone from the airport by the time those symptoms show up. But CDC officials say these stations are simply one part of a public health safety net designed to combat the spread of avian flu. They say these stations cannot do the entire job by themselves. But the CDC says all these facilities already have doctors in place, and they'll continue to be upgraded with more staff.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And CNN is your security headquarters. Stay with CNN for the latest on your security.

Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

A court-martial is being recommended for a National Guard soldier charged with killing two of his superiors. The staff sergeant Alberto Martinez is accused of using an antipersonnel mine and three grenades to kill his captain and lieutenant. Initially, it was believed they were killed by a mortar round fired at their base near Tikrit.

Here in the U.S., in Detroit, mourners waited through the night and in the long line, a quarter mile long, to pay respects to civil rights icon Rosa Parks. Her casket lies in honor in her adopted hometown. Parks died last week at the age of 92. She helped fuel the civil rights movement when she refused to surrender her bus seat to a white man.

Eighty-four-year-old Eunice Kennedy Shriver is in the hospital after suffering a minor stroke over the weekend. She's also being treated for a stress fracture of her hip. Shriver founded the Special Olympics for mentally-disable athletes and is the mother of California First Lady Maria Shriver.

Chairman Alan Greenspan overseas one of his final meetings of the Federal Reserve this afternoon. The nation's economic policymakers are expected to stay the course and raise the key interest rate by a quarter-point. They've done that the last 11 meetings.

And we're continuing our in-depth look at the threat of bird flu. In the last hour, I had a chance to -- in the next hour, I'm going to have a chance to ask the United Nations top doctor whether or not your pet bird or your Thanksgiving turkey are safe.

And later, we are on royal watch. Prince Charles visits the U.S. for the first time in an official capacity in almost 20 years. This time he has his new wife at his side. Will Camilla be able to win the hearts of Americans? CNN's Richard Quest investigates.

LIVE TODAY is back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And showing you new video, just coming in from Capitol Hill. That is Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito. He is making the rounds on Capitol Hill today, and this stop with Senator Mike DeWine, Republican from Ohio. We'll be talking with our Ed Henry in the next hour about these visits, and what is ahead for nominee Alito.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: And a lot more news ahead, as CNN LIVE TODAY continues after this quick break.

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