HHS Terminates Moderna Contract For Bird Flu Vaccine; Calls mRNA Technology “Under-Tested”

HHS has terminated a $766 million contract with Moderna to develop an mRNA bird flu vaccine. HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said the decision is about “safety, integrity, and trust.” He added 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.”

This contract termination comes days after the CDC announced it was no longer recommending COVID-19 vaccines to healthy pregnant women and healthy children, which includes the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna. Last week, the FDA announced it would no longer routinely approve new COVID-19 booster shots for healthy pregnant women and children.

Nixon said a rigorous review was conducted, and they determined that “continued investment in Moderna’s H5N1 mRNA vaccine was not scientifically or ethically justifiable.” He added, “HHS remains committed to advancing pandemic preparedness through technologies that are evidence-based, ethically grounded, and publicly accountable.”

The CDC still advises that the public health risk of bird flu is low, with 70 confirmed cases since the outbreak began in January 2022. There are no documented cases of human-to-human transmission, and the reported cases involve individuals who have had contact with infected dairy cow herds or chicken flocks. There is one confirmed death in Louisiana of a 65-year-old woman who had underlying health conditions. The specific health conditions have not been disclosed due to privacy laws.

Moderna issued a statement updating the public on its clinical trial for the bird flu vaccine while also responding to news that its contract with HHS is being terminated. “While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in this interim analysis of the Phase 1/2 study of our H5 avian flu vaccine, and we will explore alternative paths forward for the program,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. “These clinical data in pandemic influenza underscore the critical role mRNA technology has played as a countermeasure to emerging health threats.”

NPR reported that President Biden’s COVID-19 response coordinator, Dr. Ashish Jha, said, “This decision puts the lives and health of the American people at risk. Bird Flu is a well-known threat, and the virus has continued to evolve. If the virus develops the ability to spread from person to person, we could see a large number of people get sick and die from this infection,”

Jha also called the latest move by HHS to cancel the contract with Moderna an absurd attack on the mRNA vaccine platform.

Last week, the FDA announced that the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines by Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna will now be required to carry a warning label for myocarditis and pericarditis for males aged 16-25. The HighWire reported about concerns by Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Dr. Philip Buckhaults that DNA fragments found in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines may integrate into the human genome.

A FOIA request and court battle by the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) revealed that the CDC was unable to provide evidence to support its claim that DNA integration is not possible with the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines despite making that assertion.

Florida Governor Ron Desantis praised the new administration for changing course on mRNA vaccine recommendations for healthy children. “Joe Ladapo led the way in Florida, and now the CDC is rectifying a major mistake it made during the Biden era,” Desantis wrote on X. “Removing the mRNA covid shot from the childhood immunization schedule is the correct evidence-based approach.”

Dr. Ladapo also praised HHS Secretary Kennedy for his hard work and dedication but said there is “more work to be done to ensure harms from mRNA COVID-19 vaccines across all populations are fully acknowledged.”

A new poll from Rasmussen found that 51% of the 1,216 American adult survey respondents believe it is likely that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines caused heart inflammation in many people who received the vaccine. Only 50% of survey respondents believe the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines should still be commercially available.

The NIH has been cutting several research studies since the new administration took office and received criticism for terminating studies to analyze vaccine hesitancy and research on strategies to improve vaccine uptake. The latest Rasmussen poll reflects increased vaccine hesitancy among the public.

During a congressional hearing, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said, “The public has said no to COVID boosters. 70% of the public has not gotten a COVID booster. And they don’t trust us.” In the same portion of the hearing, Dr. Makary also said, “85% of healthcare workers said no to the latest COVID boosters.”

Distrust in vaccines and public health agency guidance has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic as congressional hearings and investigations have uncovered misinformation spread by public health officials. The latest hearing, chaired by Senator Ron Johnson, found that the Biden administration intentionally declined to issue a public alert about potential myocarditis caused by the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

Former CDC Director Robert Redfield stated that the bird flu would have to undergo several specific mutations to become transmissible between humans, which is extremely unlikely to occur naturally. He said, however, that these mutations could be achieved within a laboratory within a couple of months.

Virologist and researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka is known for reconstituting the Spanish flu and conducting gain-of-function research with the bird flu. Kawaoka received a $9.5 million grant from the Gates Foundation in 2009 to conduct experiments to make bird flu more susceptible to human transmission. President Trump signed an executive order to stop the federal funding of gain-of-function research.