Moderna has been awarded approximately $590 million from the federal government to help speed up the development of an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine, health officials said.

US health officials announced Friday they were awarding $590 million to Moderna to develop mRNA vaccines against influenza, including advancing the company's bird flu vaccine, as fears of a new pandemic grow.

The funding, which follows the $176 million the government awarded Moderna in June 2024, aims to get mRNA vaccines ready before bird flu strains currently circulating in the wild and on farms can potentially cause human outbreaks.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is awarding the pharmaceutical company Moderna $590 million to continue developing a vaccine to protect against bird flu. This funding, announced Friday by Moderna,

The government is working to head off human bird flu infections. The U.S. government has awarded Moderna $590 million to advance the development of its bird flu vaccine, as the country doubles down on efforts to tackle increasing infections in humans.

Key Takeaways Moderna received a $590 million award from the U.S. government to speed development of a vaccine that could be used to fight bird flu.The biotech firm's mRNA-1018 candidate posted positive results in a Phase 1/2 study launched in 2023.

Moderna has been testing an mRNA candidate for influenza viruses like the H5 and H7 strains that are seen as pandemic threats. Others, including GSK and Pfizer, are also at work on similar shots.