US To Pay Moderna $176M To Develop mRNA Pandemic Flu Vaccine Amid Growing Concerns About Avian Influenza

The AP (7/2) reports, “The U.S. government will pay the vaccine maker Moderna $176 million to accelerate development of a pandemic influenza vaccine that could be used to treat bird flu in people, as concern grows about cases in dairy cows across the country, federal officials announced Tuesday.” The company “already has a bird flu vaccine in very early-stage testing that uses the same mRNA technology that allowed rapid development and rollout of vaccines to protect against COVID-19.” The HHS funding will go to “continued development of the vaccine, including a late-stage trial next year if those early study results are positive.” However, “the project can be quickly redirected to target another form of influenza if a different threat than the H5N1 form of bird flu emerges, HHS officials stressed.”