Fortunately we'll be in the safe hands of Kamal... Donald Trump and checks notes RFK Jr.
But yes, one quite significant difference with the coronavirus is we have vaccines, antivirals, and tests. And we are continuously monitoring for their efficacy against the current circulating H5N1 virus.
So far they are still working.
If H5N1 does become a human pandemic, we can ramp up production of the target candidate.
And I've had people ask me if this is like March 2020 where we had silent spread. It isn't. Our standard influenza surveillance also tracks H5N1. Public health labs and the CDC do regular subtyping of positive influenza samples to determine if they are H5N1. And to monitor mutations.
So far we haven't seen human to human transmission. That's why the current public risk is low. That could change with mutations, but we haven't seen it yet.
H5N1 doesn't efficiently spread in humans. We lack the preferential receptors it uses in our upper respiratory system. Other animals like cats aren't as fortunate.
A risk to that is reassortment with other influenza viruses. You may recall the 2009 swine flu. That is believed to have emerged from multiple reassortments. Pigs have both avian and human preferential receptors in their respiratory system, so they are a perfect mixing vessel for influenza reassortment.
H5N1 might not emerge as a pandemic, but we shouldn't take it for granted. The 1957 Asian and 1968 Hong Kong and 1918 influenza pandemics were all believed to be avian flus. And the 2009 swine flu pandemic involved an avian flu reassortment.