Moderna has disclosed that the US government has allocated $176 million to Moderna to advance research on its bird flu vaccine. In March of this year, US officials reported the first case of H5N1 virus in cows, with at least 130 infected cows and three cases of human bird flu infection in 12 states since then.
Since March, bird flu H5N1 outbreaks have occurred in cattle farms in several states in the United States, and three dairy farm workers have been infected, causing concern.
On Tuesday Eastern Time, Moderna revealed that the US government has granted the company $176 million to advance the development of its H5N1 bird flu vaccine.
The US government has granted funds to promote vaccine development.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority of the United States has allocated this funding to Moderna for the late-stage development and testing of H5N1 bird flu vaccines based on mRNA.
US officials revealed in a news call on Tuesday that they are currently awaiting the results of phase one trials of the vaccine, which are expected to be released in the coming weeks. Based on the results of phase one trials, the company will conduct further trials. Later stage trials may focus on safety and immune response, and are expected to begin in 2025.
The grant agreement provides multiple development plan options that allow the company to accelerate its development schedule when necessary based on factors such as increasing human cases, severity of cases, or human-to-human transmission speed of the virus.
Robert Johnson, director of the Medical Countermeasures Program at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said in a call that it is too early to determine how much vaccine Moderna can produce.
It has not yet been determined whether farm workers will be vaccinated.
In March of this year, US officials reported the first detection of the H5N1 virus in cattle, and since then, at least 130 infected cows and 3 human cases of bird flu have been reported in 12 states.
In addition, the inactivated remnants of the virus have been found in a large number of dairy products in the United States, indicating that bird flu has spread widely on US dairy farms.
Although inactivated virus residues in dairy products produced by the "pasteurization method" do not pose a threat to human health in principle, scientists are concerned that the risk of virus mutation may increase due to many farm workers being exposed to the virus during the poultry and dairy production process, making it easier for the virus to spread among the population, thus triggering a large-scale epidemic.
Therefore, farm workers have become a high-risk group for bird flu infections, and whether they should be vaccinated against bird flu is still undecided within the US government.
Dawn O'Connell, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said in a conference call with reporters that the risk of the general public becoming infected with bird flu is still low, and it is currently not recommended for any population to receive the vaccine.
However, Nirav Shah, CDC's Chief Deputy Director, said that there is intense discussion within US government agencies about whether vaccinating farm workers against bird flu would be helpful. He added that no final decision has been made yet.
The US government is also negotiating with Pfizer.
O'Connell stated that the US government expects to announce more news about the H5N1 vaccine in the near future.
She also revealed that the US Department of Health and Human Services is also in talks with Pfizer about an mRNA vaccine for H5N1.
Currently, both Pfizer and Moderna are focused on developing vaccines using mRNA technology.
Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said in a statement, "mRNA vaccine technology has proven to be effective, fast-developing, scalable, and reliable in responding to outbreaks of infectious diseases, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic."