US to pay Moderna $176 million for messenger RNA pandemic flu vaccine

The U.S. government will pay vaccine maker Moderna $176 million to speed up development of a pandemic flu vaccine that could be used to treat bird flu in humans as concerns grow about cases among dairy cows across the country, federal officials said Tuesday.

Moderna already has a bird flu vaccine in very early-stage testing that uses the same messenger RNA technology that has allowed COVID-19 vaccines to be quickly developed and launched. The new funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) includes continued development of the vaccine, a process that includes late-stage testing next year if early studies are positive.

But the project could be quickly repurposed to fight another form of flu if a threat other than H5N1 bird flu emerged, HHS officials said.

The contract was awarded through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a program focused on treating potential pandemics.

The H5N1 virus was detected in dairy cows this year, spreading to more than 135 herds in 12 states and infecting three people to date, all mildly. Federal health officials stress that the risk to the general population remains low.

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