The U.S. government will pay the vaccine maker Moderna $176 million to develop a pandemic vaccine that could be used to treat bird flu, caused by the H5N1 virus, in humans as cases in dairy cows continue to mount across the country, federal officials announced Tuesday.
Moderna will launch trials to test the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine that could be used to scale up a response to a bird flu pandemic if needed. The H5N1 bird flu virus was detected earlier this year in dairy cows and has spread to more than 132 herds in 12 states. It's the first time the bird flu virus has impacted dairy cows, but it is commonly found in other mammals each year.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest data, the bird flu virus has only infected three people to date, all of whom had interacted with infected cows or poultry. The human cases were mild.
The award was made through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, a program that focuses on medical treatments for potential pandemics.