HHS weighs rescinding Moderna bird flu vaccine contract

The Trump administration confirmed it is reevaluating a $590 million human bird flu vaccine contract awarded to Moderna in the waning days of the Biden administration.

“While it is crucial that the U.S. Department and Health and Human Services support pandemic preparedness, four years of the Biden administration’s failed oversight have made it necessary to review agreements for vaccine production,” a Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson said in an email.

The review, first reported by Bloomberg, comes as the U.S. is in the middle of a bird flu outbreak that’s spreading among poultry and cattle herds, sending egg prices soaring. Human cases have been relatively rare, but the virus has caused deaths in the past. The current strain has killed one person in the U.S. to date.

The funding review is part of a broader government push to examine spending on messenger RNA-based vaccines, the technology that Moderna and Pfizer used to develop their COVID-19 vaccines. It allows vaccines to be designed and manufactured more quickly than traditional approaches.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has openly criticized COVID-19 shots, calling the vaccine “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” In 2021, Kennedy filed a petition demanding the Food and Drug Administration pull the shots from the market and refrain from approving any other COVID vaccine in the future.

Moderna has been searching for new revenue as it struggles in the postpandemic market amid flagging sales of its COVID-19 vaccine. The company recently reported $1 billion in fourth quarter revenue, a sharp decline from the $2.8 billion recorded in the same quarter in 2023.

The company was awarded the contract Jan. 17 by HHS's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

At the time, HHS said the contract would allow Moderna “to accelerate development of an H5N1 mRNA influenza vaccine that is well matched to strains currently circulating in cows and birds and expands the clinical data supporting the use of mRNA vaccines that may be needed if other influenza strains emerge with pandemic potential.”

Moderna said in January that it was ready to begin a large late-stage trial for the vaccine. But without funding, that may not happen.

Moderna didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

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