The U.S. government has awarded Moderna $176 million to develop a vaccine for bird flu. This funding is intended to support the research and development needed to create a vaccine that can effectively fight avian influenza. Bird flu, or avian influenza, is a viral infection that primarily affects birds but can occasionally infect humans.
Recently, there has been an outbreak of bird flu, specifically the H5N1 strain, which has infected at least 132 dairy cow herds across 12 states in the U.S. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) links three human cases to exposure to sick cows. The virus was first detected in cows on March 25, as reported in late June.
To address this outbreak, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that funding will be provided through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Consequently, this funding will support Moderna in using mRNA technology to develop a pandemic influenza vaccine. Moreover, Moderna successfully used this technology for its COVID-19 vaccine, which was one of the first vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The $176 million investment will help Moderna prepare materials, conduct clinical trials to test the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, and seek FDA approval. According to the HHS, it will also ensure that manufacturers can quickly produce the vaccine on a large scale if there is a public health emergency.
Public health experts, including former BARDA director Rick Bright, have praised the funding as a crucial step in improving pandemic preparedness.
Expert Insights on Synthetic Vaccines and Testing Concerns
Bright mentioned that new synthetic vaccines could provide broader immunity and quickly produce without additional substances. However, he also expressed concerns about the current level of testing and transparency in the H5N1 outbreak. He emphasized the need for better testing to monitor infections and the spread of the virus among humans.
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Bright also criticized the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for not fully disclosing the extent of the outbreak, making it hard to understand the full impact on cows. Colorado has been a significant hotspot, with 26 herds affected this year, representing nearly a quarter of the state’s herds. Despite the rising number of infected herds, authorities have tested only 53 people for the virus so far, and few have participated in the USDA’s dairy herd status program.
Experts warn that the longer the virus spreads among animals, the higher the chance it could mutate into a form more dangerous to humans. Christer Watson, a science writer, highlighted the risk of the virus mutating to infect human respiratory cells, noting that humans have no natural immunity to this virus.