How the Biden Administration is Now Trying to Prevent a Potential Bird Flu Pandemic

The United States government has awarded Moderna $176 million to develop a vaccine using messenger ribonucleic acid (or mRNA) technology that could prevent a bird flu pandemic.

An American company that used the same technology in Covid-19 vaccines She said she aims to be “better prepared” for a public health crisis after what she has learned during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bird flu does not currently pose a serious threat to humans, despite recent outbreaks in livestock and poultry.

Despite this, President Joe Biden’s government has said it is seeking to expand its ability to respond to the health emergency.

The decision to provide funding to Moderna was based on the government’s goal to be better prepared in the event that the AH5N1 bird flu virus mutates and can be transmitted between people.

Currently, there have been only a few reported cases of people becoming infected with the virus after contact with sick animals.

In humans, the virus can cause mild symptoms, such as upper respiratory and eye infections, to fatal consequences, such as pneumonia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell said mRNA vaccine technology expands the government’s ability to combat bird flu variants.

“This order issued today is part of our long-standing commitment to strengthen our ability to prepare for an influenza pandemic,” O’Connell said.

Moderna will develop materials and conduct clinical trials to collect the data needed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve commercial use of new vaccines.

The funds will also enable the development and production of biological drugs that can be modified to quickly combat other types of emerging infectious diseases.

“If successfully developed, a licensed mRNA vaccine to combat pandemic influenza could result in a shorter response time should a virus strain emerge that causes a pandemic, as happened with H1N1 (flu) in 2009,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Moderna began initial testing of this bird flu vaccine in healthy adults in 2023. Results from those trials are expected to be published later this year.

The funds were awarded to Moderna through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

“Since 2005, BARDA has contracted with licensed influenza vaccine manufacturers in the United States to conduct and enhance their capacity to respond to an influenza pandemic or other public health emergency,” the agency added.

Vaccines that use mRNA technology can direct the body’s cells to produce a protein — or part of a protein — that triggers an immune response in people, according to the CDC.

“This immune response, which produces antibodies, protects us from becoming infected if the real virus enters our bodies,” the CDC website says.

In a statement Tuesday, the Department of Health added that lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic have enabled the federal agency to be better prepared to respond if another pandemic occurs.

Currently, there have been only a few reported cases of people becoming infected with the virus after contact with sick animals.