Trump administration cancels contract for a vaccine to fight bird flu

The Trump administration has canceled a contract with the drugmaker Moderna to develop a vaccine for humans to fight off the bird flu, according to CBS News.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department announced it had withdrawn around $600 million in funds to pay for development and purchase of the vaccine.

The decision appears to be in keeping with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s long history of anti-vaccine activism, including promoting false claims about the dangers of vaccines since taking office, according to the Associated Press.

Earlier this year, Kennedy suggested that bird flu should be allowed to spread, unchecked, in poultry flocks.

That notion was criticized by scientists who said such a move would allow the virus to replicate, which would heighten the opportunity for it to spread to humans, according to FactCheck.org.

But the administration has backed Kennedy, with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins expressing her agreement, Politico reported.

Several dozen dairy workers contracted the flu as it spread among dairy cows for more than a year.

The virus also has infected flocks of chickens and other poultry in the U.S. since 2022, leading to the deaths of more than 168 million birds, infections in poultry workers, and high egg prices.

The consumer burden of high egg prices was a major part of President Donald Trump’s campaign.

In Philadelphia, cases surfaced in a flock of 420 birds kept at a market in the city on Feb. 24 and a flock of 1,100 birds on March 12, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Avian flu will kill most domestic birds that it infects, and affected flocks are typically killed to prevent the spread of the disease.

Flu was detected in a flock of 350 birds in Lehigh County on March 13.

Pennsylvania has extensive quarantine protocols and testing operations in place to prevent the spread of the disease.

In criticizing the bird flu vaccine, Kennedy has questioned the safety of mRNA technology, which would be part of Moderna’s formula.

It was also used in Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to the New York Times. Moderna was among the drug manufacturers that received federal funding to develop a COVID vaccine during Trump’s first administration as part of Operation Warp Speed in 2020.

Also known as messenger RNA, mRNA is a cellular messenger that instructs the body to produce a small part of the virus, which acts as an antibody and kicks off the body’s immune response, according to Moderna.

An HHS spokesperson said that using a vaccine containing mRNA “was not scientifically justifiable,” the Times reported.

That is simply incorrect, said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.

“Around 2 billion people have gotten vaccines with mRNA,” Offit said in an interview Thursday. “Using it is a well-worn technique that speeds up the process of making vaccines within three months. And quick is valuable when you’re talking about the flu.”

A longtime critic of Kennedy, Offit said: “There’s no such thing as a good vaccine for him. And he never explains himself. What’s the medical proof behind what he says?”

Scientists at Penn Medicine have also been working on an mRNA avian flu vaccine. Last May, researchers reported successful tests in mice and ferrets and said they were planning to begin trials in cattle, pigs, and chickens soon.

A Penn spokesperson did not immediately return a call for comment on the status of that vaccine.

Moderna’s contract cancellation comes days after federal health officials announced that the CDC will no longer recommend COVID vaccines for healthy children and healthy pregnant women, saying there was no evidence that children need the vaccine.

The decision was decried by Offit. He said the virus remains dangerous for both groups, especially pregnant people, who are more likely to experience severe complications from COVID.

And he added that the federal Vaccines for Children program, which provides free vaccines for children whose parents cannot afford them, could drop coverage for COVID shots as a result.

Some local health departments say they are uncertain about what the decision means for their vaccine distribution plans.

Delaware County health officials said in a statement that they had not received guidance from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Immunizations on how the move would affect vaccine programs for adults and children, but said they will likely include COVID vaccines “as appropriate” in a county-funded vaccine program for homebound residents.

In Montgomery County, health officials said in a statement that the Trump administration had not followed typical processes in announcing its new vaccine recommendations, so it was difficult to tell “exactly what the final outcome will be.”

And they pointed out that the new guidance contradicted a recommendation posted on the CDC website encouraging pregnant women to get vaccinated, calling it “the best protection against COVID-19-related hospitalization and death for you and your baby.”