HHS cancels $766 million in Moderna contracts for vaccines for flu pandemics

The Department of Health and Human Services has notified Moderna that it is canceling contracts worth $766 million with the company to develop, test, and license vaccines for flu subtypes that could trigger future pandemics, including the dangerous H5N1 bird flu virus.

Though the possibility of the cancellation had been anticipated — the new leadership at HHS told the company in February that it was reviewing the two contracts, signed with the Biden administration — the move is being seen as a significant blow to the country’s capacity to respond to pandemic influenza.

No other flu vaccine production approach can produce doses with the speed of the messenger RNA platform used by Moderna and other companies that work with mRNA. But the vaccine platform is viewed with deep suspicion by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his political base.

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