Infectious Diseases 2025

Infectious Diseases 2025

HHS grants $590M for mRNA flu vaccine development

18 January, 2025

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will provide approximately $590 million to Moderna to accelerate the development of mRNA-based pandemic influenza vaccines and enhance mRNA platform capabilities so that the U.S. is better prepared to respond to other emerging infectious diseases.
This funding allows 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’s influenza vaccine candidate uses conventional mRNA technology that was leveraged successfully during the COVID-19 response, resulting in one of the first two FDA-authorized - and ultimately FDA-licensed - COVID-19 vaccines.