|UNITED STATES TODAY
Health officials describe the transmission of bird flu to humans. What we know.
Health officials are urging caution about where consumers get their milk from as they investigate bird flu deaths in humans. Here’s what we know.
Moderna will receive $176 million in federal funding to develop a human vaccine against bird flu after the virus broke out in dairy cows in several states, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday.
The U.S. has documented three cases of human avian flu in 2024. All had regular contact with dairy cows. As of July, more than 130 herds in 12 states have seen infected cows.
More: Be ‘alert but not alarmed’ about bird flu, CDC official advises.
The HHS award to the U.S. vaccine maker will be used to develop an mRNA-based pandemic influenza vaccine. Moderna’s vaccine candidate draws on mRNA technology that was successfully used during the COVID-19 response, resulting in one of the first two Food and Drug Administration-authorized COVID-19 vaccines that were ultimately approved by the FDA, HHS said.
mRNA-based vaccines could complement traditional vaccination technologies during an emergency response to an influenza pandemic. This is a concern for H5N1 avian influenza, even though the current risk to human health remains low.
“We have successfully taken lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and used them to better prepare for future public health crises,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “As part of that, we continue to develop new vaccines and other tools to address influenza and strengthen our pandemic response capabilities.”
The funding, provided through the federal Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle, will allow Moderna to enhance vaccine response capacity, according to an HHS news release. This includes the use of large-scale commercial mRNA production and the continued development of seasonal flu vaccines. HHS has negotiated a fair pricing agreement to ensure cost-effective access to vaccines.
Moderna will prepare materials and conduct clinical trials to gather safety and immune response data to support FDA approval and, ultimately, potentially scale up the response with commercial production in a public health emergency. The award also enables the rapid development of an mRNA vaccine targeting multiple subtypes or strains of influenza viruses with pandemic potential. Development and production can be quickly adapted, if needed, to address other emerging infectious diseases, HHS said.
If successfully developed, Moderna’s mRNA-based pandemic flu vaccine could improve response times when a new strain of the virus emerges, as HHS pointed out in 2009 during the swine flu pandemic.
In 2023, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority asked Moderna and other companies for proposals to develop mRNA vaccines for potential public health emergencies caused by influenza viruses, including H5N1. In a press release, Moderna said it has initiated a study to investigate the safety and immunogenicity of pandemic influenza vaccines in adults 18 years and older. This included vaccine candidates against H5 and H7 avian influenza viruses. Results are expected in 2024 to inform further development plans for the studies, Moderna said.
There have now been four cases of bird flu in humans in the U.S., with three cases in 2024. Health officials said the risk remains low, though dairy farmers and others who work near infected cows are at higher risk.
