(Daily360.com) Moderna is receiving $176 million to develop a human mRNA vaccine for bird flu amidst outbreaks in dairy cattle around the United States.
The funds will come from BARDA, an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services. 135 herds reportedly have infections and this is spread across 12 states. So far, only three human cases have been reported in the U.S. and the most typical symptom is conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye. Two out of the three had only that symptom, while the third person had watery discharge, eye discomfort, and typical cold symptoms.
The CDC currently lists the public health threat of H5N1 infection for humans as low. Moderna will be working on this new vaccine in which clinical trials are expected to happen in 2025. Meanwhile, the federal government has a stockpile of bird flu vaccines that were created using the standard vaccine technology rather than mRNA.
Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response, said both the mRNA and traditional bird flu vaccines will need approval before the vaccines can be administered. She expects the traditional vaccine to be available in mid-July and says it is “too soon” to recommend that anyone receives a bird flu vaccine.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, suggested in early June that farms should be testing their cows for bird flu on a weekly basis. She speculated that there are more human cases than we are aware of because so far tests have only been administered on people who have symptoms. Birx is attempting to sound the alarm with concerns that the U.S. will make the same mistakes that were made during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CDC is tracking the situation with dairy cattle and farm workers to determine if the virus can spread asymptomatically. The agency is providing support to states to conduct tests and improve biosecurity measures in an attempt to reduce the spread of bird flu between farm animals and people.
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