The panzootic high pathogenicity avian influenza subtype H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b (hereafter H5N1) has spread globally in recent years at unprecedented rates (Klaassen and Wille, 2023). This novel H5N1 differs from previous outbreaks because the barrier of transmission from birds to pinnipeds (seals and sea lions) is low (Dewar et al., 2023; Tomás et al., 2024), direct mammal to mammal transmission is likely (Restori et al., 2024; Rimondi et al., 2024; Uhart et al., 2024; Plaza et al., 2024a), and even small doses are virulent in mammals (Restori et al., 2024). During 2023 the virus spread around South America from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, killing hundreds of thousands of seabirds and tens of thousands of pinnipeds (Leguia et al., 2023; Ulloa et al., 2023; Azat et al., 2024; Campagna et al., 2024; De Lima et al., 2024, Plaza et al., 2024b). Fears of H5N1 following wildlife migration routes and infecting Antarctic seabird and pinniped colonies (Boulinier, 2023; Dewar et al., 2023; Stokstad, 2024) have recently been realized by confirmed infections at several locations on the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) (Bennett Lazo et al., 2024; SCAR-AWHN, 2024; WAHIS, 2024). Given the geographic proximity of South Georgia in the southwest Atlantic (Figure 1), where Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) and southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) have been infected (Bennison et al., 2024), and the common, direct behavioral interactions with regional H5N1-infected seabird species, the risk to Antarctic pinnipeds is extremely high.