The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it will award $590 million to Moderna to accelerate the development of influenza vaccines, including to protect against bird flu.
"Accelerating the development of new vaccines will allow us to stay ahead and ensure that Americans have the tools they need to stay safe," outgoing HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement on Friday.
The money will go to Moderna, the Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company that previously developed a COVID-19 vaccine. Since 2023, Moderna has been working to create a "pandemic influenza vaccine" which would help protect against certain viruses, including the H5N1 bird flu.
The new funds build on the $176 million that HHS gave to Moderna last July. On Friday, Moderna said the additional funding will help pay for late-stage development, licensure of the vaccines and expanding clinical studies for additional subtypes of pandemic influenza to prevent other potential public health emergencies.
Over the past several months, bird flu has spread rapidly throughout the U.S.
It has mostly infected livestock and other mammals, but there have been at least 67 confirmed human cases so far, including one death in Louisiana, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California currently accounts for more than half of human infections.
The public health risk remains low, but HHS Secretary Becerra said bird flu variants have proven to be unpredictable, which is why the virus is a top priority for the federal government.
On Thursday, the CDC issued an alert urging hospitals to speed up efforts to test people who they suspect have an infection.
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