Dive Brief:
- Moderna is plowing ahead with plans for a vaccine to fight a possible human outbreak of H5 influenza, or bird flu, even after losing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the U.S. government.
- On Tuesday, Moderna said researchers have administered the first doses in a Phase 3 trial that aims to enroll about 4,000 healthy adults in the U.S. and U.K. The study will evaluate the vaccine’s safety and its ability to provoke an immune response in the body.
- The vaccine, dubbed mRNA-1018, is based on the messenger RNA technology that allowed companies including Moderna to develop safe and effective inoculations in record time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moderna’s new vaccine is being tested as a precautionary measure against a potential threat that has long concerned public health officials.
Dive Insight:
Moderna is a pioneer of the mRNA technology that has become a lightning rod in U.S. politics. Years of prior research allowed the company to capitalize on the technology’s unique adaptability and quickly develop a vaccine for COVID-19. Since then, billions of people around the world have received one of Moderna’s shots or a similar one developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
During his first term, President Donald Trump helped speed the mRNA vaccines to market and was still trumpeting their effectiveness even after leaving office. But during his second term, Trump picked vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services department and installed other top officials who fomented distrust of the inoculations.
In May 2025, the Trump administration canceled a government contract meant to help Moderna develop new mRNA shots and make the U.S. more prepared for the possibility of another pandemic, including one caused by bird flu. The Biden administration had initially awarded Moderna $176 million in 2024 and then expanded the contract with another $590 million in its last days in office in January 2025.
After nixing that contract, the Trump administration went further, winding down other mRNA research. The move drew criticism from scientists and public officials including the former head of the agency built to thwart public health emergencies. “We’re crippling our front-line defense, just ahead of unknown biological threats,” Rick Bright, who led the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority during Trump’s first term, said at the time.
After the U.S. government pulled its funding, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations stepped in, offering to provide Moderna with as much as $54.3 million to develop the bird flu vaccine. As part of the agreement, Moderna agreed to allocate 20% of manufacturing capacity to supplying low- and middle-income nations with low-cost bird flu vaccines in the case of a pandemic.
If the Phase 3 study succeeds, Moderna plans to seek approval for the new vaccine, helped by research on its seasonal flu shot currently being evaluated by global regulators. The Food and Drug Administration initially refused to accept that vaccine for review, then changed course in February.
