HHS Cancels Bird Flu Vaccine Funding

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ended a contract with Moderna to create a vaccine to safeguard against bird flu. The announcement came last week and followed the department’s broader efforts to reevaluate vaccines. For example, as CMM reported last week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be among the recommended vaccines for pregnant women and healthy children.

The contract, worth US$590 million, was announced in mid-January, just before President Donald Trump’s second term, CNN reported. The funding was in addition to $176 million awarded by HHS last year to complete the late-stage development and testing of a pre-pandemic mRNA-based vaccine against bird flu, Reuters reported.

Moderna was studying a two-dose regimen of its bird flu vaccine. In approximately 300 healthy adults aged 18 years and older, Moderna’s mRNA-1018 vaccine demonstrated a rapid, potent, and durable immune response, the drugmaker said.

“While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in this interim analysis of the Phase 1/2 study of our H5 avian flu vaccine, and we will explore alternative paths forward for the program,” said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna CEO. “These clinical data in pandemic influenza underscore the critical role mRNA technology has played as a countermeasure to emerging health threats.”

Bird flu has infected 70 people and killed one person during the past year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most cases are among farm workers as the virus has spread aggressively among cattle herds, poultry flocks, and other wild and domestic animals. While the current public health risk is low, the CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures. To date, no known person-to-person spread has occurred.