Culling Chickens to Stop Bird Flu Isn’t Working, Dr. Robert Malone Says

In a conversation with EpochTV’s Jan Jekielek, Malone questioned the strategy for avian influenza outbreaks. He'd prefer to breed flu-resistant chickens.

Dr. Robert Malone and Jan Jekielek, Epoch Times senior editor and host of American Thought Leaders, speak during the annual CPAC in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 22, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

OXON HILL, Md.—In a discussion with American Thought Leaders host Jan Jekielek, Dr. Robert Malone questioned the current approach to limiting bird flu outbreaks—the culling of tens of millions of domesticated birds.

Twenty million egg-laying chickens died last quarter in connection with bird flu, including through the mass culling of flocks whenever avian influenza was spotted. The strategy is motivated in part by concern over the transmission of bird flu to humans.

Bird flu—and the public health paradigm for preventing its spread—have contributed to fast-rising egg prices.

Malone, known for his skepticism of the U.S. public health establishment’s approach to COVID-19, voiced concerns about the culling strategy in his interview with Jekielek.

“It’s not working. That is the old-school way to control outbreaks,” the medical doctor said.

The conversation between Malone and Jekielek took place on Feb. 22 at the Conservative Political Action Conference, located at a resort just outside Washington.

Malone pointed out that there are reasons to be skeptical of the greatest bird flu fears.

Avian influenza viruses are common in waterfowl. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, human-to-human transmission of H1N5, the strain now spreading, has not been observed.

Malone also advised against mass poultry vaccinations, saying that they would “drive the evolution of more vaccine-resistant bird flu strains.”

“Personally, I like the idea that we let loose the chicken industry to breed flu-resistant chickens and turkeys and ducks,” he said, noting that it could serve the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda advanced by new Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Tackling Fentanyl

Malone had another MAHA-related suggestion for Kennedy, related to President Donald Trump’s new FBI director, Kash Patel.

Kennedy chairs the new MAHA Commission, which Trump established via a Feb. 13 executive order.

The order calls for the commission to submit an assessment of American children’s health within 100 days of its issuance. The requested report would compare the United States to other countries and outline validated approaches for improving children’s health, “including through proper nutrition and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.”

Malone drew a connection between Kennedy’s program and the work of Patel, with whom Jekielek previously co-hosted an EpochTV program, “Kash’s Corner.”

Malone, known for his work on mRNA vaccine technology and his concerns about COVID-19 vaccine injuries, pointed out that Patel has been vocal about the harmful effects of fentanyl on Americans.

During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his FBI director nomination, Patel testified that the FBI should concentrate on fentanyl brought to the United States by foreign cartels rather than alleged links between ideological extremism and traditional Catholic groups in the United States—the subject of a controversial memo during the Biden administration that has since been retracted.

Out of the United States’s 107,941 overdose deaths in 2022, more than 68 percent stemmed from synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl, according to statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse within the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Robert Malone (L) and Jan Jekielek in the first episode of new Epoch TV series “Fallout.” EpochTV

Malone suggested that HHS could work with the FBI and other agencies to tackle fentanyl, saying the effort could yield positive, measurable results for the American people within a year to a year and a half.

Jekielek also discussed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) clampdown on the meditation and spiritual practice of Falun Gong in China.

“They decided to crush this health and spiritual movement,” the American Thought Leaders host said.

He identified a pattern, saying that “totalitarians do not like healthy people.”

In addition to persecuting Falun Gong, the CCP has been widely linked to the production of fentanyl that makes its way to the United States.