### U.S. Halts Moderna Bird Flu Vaccine Contract Amid Safety Concerns

The Trump administration has terminated a substantial $600-million agreement with pharmaceutical company Moderna, which was aimed at developing a human vaccine for bird flu. This decision has significant implications, as it also revokes the U.S. government's prior rights to pre-purchase doses in anticipation of a flu pandemic, effectively nullifying a preparedness strategy launched in January by the Biden administration.

The contract to Moderna was an extension of a previous investment totaling $175 million made by the government just last year. Despite its importance, the termination did not come as a complete surprise. Earlier in the year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had signaled that it was reconsidering the contract.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has consistently raised doubts about the safety of mRNA technology, the innovative method used in Moderna's Covid vaccines. The mRNA technology functions by instructing the body to produce a piece of the virus, thereby triggering an immune response. This technology was first employed effectively in the Covid vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for HHS, stated, "After a rigorous review, we concluded that continued investment in Moderna's H5N1 mRNA vaccine was not scientifically or ethically justifiable."

Moderna expressed its intentions to seek alternative pathways to develop the vaccines initially covered by the contract, focusing on vaccines for multiple types of flu viruses with pandemic potential.