U.S. Government cancels $766 million Moderna contract to fight pandemic flu
The company said it was notified Wednesday (May 28, 2025) that the Health and Human Services Department had withdrawn funds awarded in July 2024 and in January to pay for the development and purchase of its investigational vaccine.
The funds were awarded through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, a program that focuses on medical treatments for potential pandemics.
The new vaccine, called mRNA-1018, utilises the same technology that enabled the rapid development and rollout of vaccines to combat COVID-19.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed deep scepticism regarding mRNA vaccines, despite real-world evidence that the vaccines are safe and have saved millions of lives.
The cancelation came as Moderna announced positive interim results from an early-stage trial of the vaccine that targeted H5 bird flu virus, tested in 300 healthy adults.
'While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in this interim analysis," the company said in a statement.
H5N1 bird flu viruses spread from wild birds into cattle in the U.S. last year, infecting hundreds of animals in several states. At least 70 people in the U.S. have been sickened by bird flu infections, mostly mild. One person died. Scientists fear that continued mutation of the virus could allow it to become more virulent or more easily spread in people, with the possibility that it could trigger a pandemic.
Moderna received $176 million in July 2024 and $590 million in January. The January award would have supported a late-stage clinical trial that could have determined the vaccine's efficacy against pandemic viruses, including bird flu, a company spokesman said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
Raghav Chadha pushes for free yearly health check-ups amid post-Covid heart risks
Rajya Sabha MP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha raised a serious health concern during the recent monsoon session of Parliament. In a post on X, Chadha said that heart attacks and other health problems have gone up sharply in India, especially after the Covid-19 deal with this rising health crisis, Chadha demanded that annual health check-ups be made a legal right for every Indian his post, Chadha wrote, 'Post Covid-19, we're seeing a sharp rise in heart failures and other health issues. Early detection can save lives.' He pointed out that many developed countries offer free annual health check-ups to all citizens, paid for by the government. 'Why not in India?' he asked.I raised a demand in Parliament:Make Annual Health Check-up a Legal Right of every COVID-19, we're seeing a sharp rise in heart failures and other health issues. Early detection can save many countries, the government funds & mandates annual health Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) July 22, 2025'Healthcare must not remain a privilege for the elite,' he added, stressing that regular medical tests should be available to everyone, not just to those who can afford ended his post with a powerful line: 'Jaanch hai toh jaan hai' (If there's a check-up, there's life).Interestingly, Chadha's speech was also the last one made in the Parliament while Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar was still on the Chair. Dhankhar later resigned from his post due to health THIS MATTERSSince the pandemic, doctors and hospitals have reported a rise in sudden heart attacks, strokes, and other serious conditions, even among young people. Many of these cases could have been caught earlier through routine health experts agree that early detection saves lives and reduces the cost of treatment and, in many cases, avoids symptoms to get worse. Tests like blood pressure checks, ECGs (for heart health), blood sugar levels, and cholesterol screenings can warn people about risks before they become annual health check-up is make a legal right, it could be a major step toward making healthcare in India more preventive rather than just curative.- EndsTrending Reel
Economic Times
12 hours ago
- Economic Times
COVID-19 Cases Rise: Should you be worried and take immediate precautions? Here's complete list of affected states, other details
ET Online COVID-19 cases are rising in the United States. COVID-19 cases are increasing in the United States, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting growing or likely growing case numbers in at least 26 states and Washington, D.C. The spike coincides with new variants and shifting guidance on data shows that COVID-19 cases are either increasing or likely increasing in most regions. The states currently reporting growing cases include: Arkansas Hawaii Illinois Iowa Kentucky North Carolina Ohio Pennsylvania Texas Virginia In addition, the following locations are seeing a likely increase: Alaska California Delaware District of Columbia Georgia Indiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Mississippi New Jersey New York Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Wisconsin According to CDC tracking, COVID-related emergency room visits for children under the age of 5 are at their highest since March. This group remains among the most vulnerable, as they cannot yet receive their own vaccine doses. Also Read: World's Best International Airports: Who tops the list and why? Here's Top 10 list, rankings, Travel + Leisure 2025 survey criteria and points Dr. Jon LaPook, chief medical correspondent for CBS News, said the rise is part of an annual pattern now observed since the pandemic began. He confirmed there are winter and summer spikes. He added that although the overall number of hospitalizations and deaths is decreasing each year, COVID-19 still poses risks to certain groups. These include children under 4, older adults, and immunocompromised recent increase in cases has been linked to new variants named Nimbus and Stratus. Dr. LaPook stated that these are not more dangerous than earlier variants. Symptoms continue to include cough, sore throat, fever, and variants like NB.1.8.1 also showed no increase in disease severity. The new seasonal vaccines are designed to protect against current circulating strains, including Nimbus and Stratus. Also Read: Don't Tap the Glass Release: Tyler, The Creator's Album takes social media by storm, sparks meme fest. Here's complete track list, run time, reactions The CDC and other health organizations have differing guidance on vaccines. The CDC encourages shared clinical decision-making, especially for healthy children. Most adults are recommended to receive the 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine, particularly if they: Are 65 years or older Are at high risk for severe COVID-19 Have never received a vaccine Some organizations, like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, continue to recommend vaccination during pregnancy. This helps transfer antibodies from the mother to the baby before the infant becomes eligible for their own and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. noted that vaccine decisions should be made in consultation with medical professionals. Are the new COVID-19 variants Nimbus and Stratus more severe than previous ones? No. Experts say symptoms are similar to earlier variants. They include cough, sore throat, fever, and fatigue. Hospitalization rates have not shown an increase. Should everyone get the 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine? The CDC advises most adults to get it, especially older adults or those at risk. Others should discuss it with their healthcare provider.
NDTV
14 hours ago
- NDTV
Fear Of US Federal Agents Force Texas Immigrants To Stay Indoors Even During Medical Crisis
The 41-year-old mother, who crossed into the United States from Mexico more than two decades ago and married an American carpenter, fears federal agents may be on the hunt for her. As she was about to leave for the pharmacy late last month, her husband called with a frantic warning: Immigration enforcement officers were swarming the store's parking lot. Juanita, who is prediabetic, skipped filling medications that treat her nutrient deficiencies. She also couldn't risk being detained because she has to care for her 17-year-old daughter, who has Down syndrome. "If I am caught, who's going to help my daughter?" Juanita asks in Spanish, through an interpreter. Some people quoted in this story insisted that The Associated Press publish only their first names because of concerns over their immigration status. As the Trump administration intensifies deportation activity around the country, some immigrants - including many who have lived in Texas's southern tip for decades - are unwilling to leave their homes, even for necessary medical care. Tucked behind the freeway strip malls, roadside taquerias and vast citrus groves that span this 160-mile stretch of the Rio Grande Valley are people like Juanita, who need critical medical care in one of the nation's poorest and unhealthiest regions. For generations, Mexican families have harmoniously settled - some legally, some not - in this predominately Latino community where immigration status was once hardly top of mind. White House officials have directed federal agents to leave no location unchecked, including hospitals and churches, in their drive to remove 1 million immigrants by year's end. Those agents are even combing through the federal government's largest medical record databases to search for immigrants who may be in the United States illegally. Deportations and tougher restrictions will come with consequences, says Mark Krikorian, the director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that favors restrictive immigration policies. "We shouldn't have let it get out of hand the way we did," Krikorian says of the previous administration's immigration policies. "Some businesses are going to have difficulties. Some communities are going to face difficulties." Federal agents' raids began reaching deeper into everyday life across the Rio Grande Valley in June, just as the area's 1.4 million residents began their summer ritual of enduring the suffocating heat. This working-class stretch of Texas solidly backed Trump in the 2024 election, despite campaign promises to ruthlessly pursue mass deportations. People here, who once moved regularly from the U.S. to Mexico to visit relatives or get cheap dental care, say they didn't realize his deportation campaign would focus on their neighbors. But in recent weeks, restaurant workers have been escorted out mid-shift and farmers have suddenly lost field workers. Schoolchildren talk openly about friends who lost a parent in raids. More than a dozen were arrested last month at local flea markets, according to local news reports and Border Patrol officials. Immigrants are staying shut inside their mobiles homes and shacks that make up the "colonias," zoning-free neighborhoods that sometimes don't have access to running water or electricity, says Sandra de la Cruz-Yarrison, who runs the Holy Family Services, Inc. clinic in Weslaco, Texas. "People are not going to risk it," de la Cruz-Yarrison says. "People are being stripped from their families." Yet people here are among the most medically needy in the country. Nearly half the population is obese. Women are more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer and elderly people are more likely to develop dementia. Bladder cancers can be more aggressive. One out of every four people lives with diabetes. As much as a third of the population doesn't have health insurance to cover those ailments. And a quarter of people live in poverty, more than double the national average. Now, many in this region are on a path to develop worse health outcomes as they skip doctor appointments out of fear, says Dr. Stanley Fisch, a pediatrician who helped open Driscoll Children's Hospital in the region last year. "We've always had, unfortunately, people who have gone with untreated diabetes for a long time and now it's compounded with these other issues at the moment," Fisch says. "This is a very dangerous situation for people. The population is suffering accordingly." Elvia was the unlucky - and unsuspecting - patient who sat down for the finger prick the clinic offers everyone during its monthly educational meeting for community members. As blood oozed out of her finger, the monitor registered a 194 glucose level, indicating she is prediabetic. She balked at the idea of writing down her address for regular care at Holy Family Services' clinic. Nor did she want to enroll in Medicaid, the federal and state funded program that provides health care coverage to the poorest Americans. Although she is a legal resident, some people living in her house do not have legal status. Fewer people have come to Holy Family Services' clinic with coverage in recent months, says billing coordinator Elizabeth Reta. Over decades, the clinic's midwifery staff has helped birth thousands of babies in bathtubs or on cozy beds in birthing houses situated throughout the campus. But now, Reta says, some parents are too scared to sign those children up for health insurance because they do not want to share too much information with the government. "Even people I personally know that used to have Medicaid for their children that were born here - that are legally here, but the parents are not - they stopped requesting Medicaid," Reta says. Their worry is well-founded. An Associated Press investigation last week revealed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have gained access to personal health data - including addresses - of the nation's 79 million Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program enrollees. The disclosure will allow ICE officials to receive "identity and location information of aliens," documents obtained by the AP say. In Texas, the governor started requiring emergency room staff to ask patients about their legal status, a move that doctors have argued will dissuade immigrants from seeking needed care. State officials have said the data will show how much money is spent on care for immigrants who may not be here legally. Federal law requires emergency rooms to treat any patients who come to the doors. Visits to Holy Family Services' mobile clinic have stopped altogether since Trump took office. The van, which once offered checkups at the doorsteps in the colonias, now sits running on idle. Its constant hum is heard throughout the clinic's campus, to keep medical supplies fresh in the 100-degree temperatures. "These were hard-hit communities that really needed the services," de la Cruz-Yarrison says. "People were just not coming after the administration changed." Immigrants were less likely to seek medical care during Trump's first term, multiple studies concluded. A 2023 study of well-child visits in Boston, Minneapolis and Little Rock, Arkansas, noted a 5% drop for children who were born to immigrant mothers after Trump was elected in 2016. The study also noted declines in visits when news about Trump's plans to tighten immigration rules broke throughout his first term. "It's a really high-anxiety environment where they're afraid to talk to the pediatrician, go to school or bring their kids to child care," says Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, a Boston University researcher who oversaw the study. A delayed trip to the doctor almost cost 82-year-old Maria Isabel de Perez her son this spring. He refused to seek help for his intense and constant stomach pains for weeks, instead popping Tylenol daily so he could still labor in the farm fields of Arkansas, she says. He put off going to the hospital as rumors swirled that immigration enforcement officials were outside of the hospital. "He waited and waited because he felt the pain but was too scared to go to the hospital," she explains in Spanish through an interpreter. "He couldn't go until the appendix exploded." Her son is still recovering after surgery and has not been able to return to work, she says. Perez is a permanent resident who has lived in the United States for 40 years. But all of her children were born in Mexico, and, because she is a green card holder, she cannot sponsor them for citizenship. Maria, meanwhile, only leaves her house to volunteer at a local food bank. She's skipped work on nearby farms. And after last month's arrests, she won't sell clothes for money at the flea market anymore. So she stuffs cardboard boxes with loaves of bread, potatoes, peppers and beans that will be handed out to the hungry. Before the raids began, about 130 people would drive up to collect a box of food from Maria. But on this sweltering June day, only 68 people show up for food. She brings home a box weekly to her children, ages 16, 11 and 4, who are spending the summer shut inside. Her 16-year-old daughter has skipped the checkup she needs to refill her depression medication. The teenager, who checks in on friends whose parents have been arrested in immigration raids through a text group chat, insists she is "doing OK." Maria left Mexico years ago because dangerous gangs rule her hometown, she explains. She's married now to an American truck driver. "We're not bad people," Maria says from her dining room table, where her 4-year-old son happily eats a lime green popsicle. "We just want to have a better future for our children." Juanita, the prediabetic mother who hasn't filled her prescriptions out of fear, was not sure when she would brave the pharmacy again. But with a cross hanging around her neck, the devout Catholic says she will say three invocations before she does. Explains her 15-year-old son, Jose: "We always pray before we leave."
