Trump Administration Cancels $600 Million Contract to Develop Bird Flu Vaccine

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Trump Administration Cancels $600 Million Contract to Develop Bird Flu Vaccine

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The Trump administration has pulled funding for a bird flu vaccine, citing concerns about mRNA technology

Moderna, which had been developing the vaccine, said it has shown to generate “a rapid, potent and durable immune response” to the virus

Earlier this week, the administration rolled back recommendations for COVID vaccines, which use the same technology

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has pulled $600 million in funding it had previously promised to pharmaceutical company Moderna to develop a vaccine for bird flu in humans, citing concerns about mRNA technology.

The funding had been allocated under

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amid the rapid spread of H1N1 — commonly called

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. More than 173 million birds have been culled, according to the

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. Nearly 1,000 herds of cattle have been infected.

Per the most recent data, there have been 70 human infections and

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Scientists have warned that the virus could mutate further and have a more dangerous and widespread impact on human health.

The Moderna contract was built on a previous government investment of $175 million last year, according to the

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.

Getty

Stock image of someone getting vaccinated.

“This is not simply about efficacy — it’s about safety, integrity, and trust,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement, per the

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. “The reality is that mRNA technology remains under-tested, and we are not going to spend taxpayer dollars repeating the mistakes of the last administration, which concealed legitimate safety concerns from the public.”

A rep for Moderna tells PEOPLE in a statement: “While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, Moderna will explore alternatives for late-stage development and manufacturing of the H5 program consistent with the Company’s strategic commitment to pandemic preparedness.

“Researchers have been exploring mRNA’s potential in medicine for over 30 years, leading to the rapid deployment of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines that transformed the course of the pandemic. With more than a billion doses distributed worldwide and an unprecedented amount of real-world safety and efficacy data, the benefits of mRNA vaccination — first for COVID-19 and now for

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— are well established.”

Messenger RNA, or mRNA technology, made headlines when it was used for

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‘s vaccines against the virus that causes

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during the pandemic. According to the

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, mRNA technology was “decades in development as a therapy for ******* and for prevention of infectious diseases.”

Whereas traditional vaccines introduce a weakened or dead virus into your immune system, which then prompts your immune system to produce antibodies to fight the virus, mRNA teaches your body to make a “small part” of the virus, generally a protein, the

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explains.

Your body fights that protein, thereby having the tools to recognize it and kill it in the case you’re infected with the actual virus.

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Tasos Katopodis/Getty

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Results from Moderna’s bird flu vaccine research were positive and generated “a rapid, potent and durable immune response,” the company said in a

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.

Earlier this week,

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., a longtime

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, announced they were rolling back

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for pregnant women and children amid health experts citing research showing pregnant women who were sickened with Covid faced worse outcomes.

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