Trump Administration Cancels $600 Million Contract to Develop Bird Flu Vaccine

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has pulled $600 million in funding it had previously promised to pharmaceutical company Moderna to develop a vaccine for bird flu in humans, citing concerns about mRNA technology.

The funding had been allocated under President Joe Biden amid the rapid spread of H1N1 — commonly called bird flu. More than 173 million birds have been culled, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Nearly 1,000 herds of cattle have been infected.

Per the most recent data, there have been 70 human infections and one death. Scientists have warned that the virus could mutate further and have a more dangerous and widespread impact on human health.

The Moderna contract was built on a previous government investment of $175 million last year, according to the New York Times.

“This is not simply about efficacy — it’s about safety, integrity, and trust,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement, per the Washington Post. “The reality is that mRNA technology remains under-tested, and we are not going to spend taxpayer dollars repeating the mistakes of the last administration, which concealed legitimate safety concerns from the public.”

A rep for Moderna tells PEOPLE in a statement: “While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, Moderna will explore alternatives for late-stage development and manufacturing of the H5 program consistent with the Company’s strategic commitment to pandemic preparedness.

“Researchers have been exploring mRNA’s potential in medicine for over 30 years, leading to the rapid deployment of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines that transformed the course of the pandemic. With more than a billion doses distributed worldwide and an unprecedented amount of real-world safety and efficacy data, the benefits of mRNA vaccination — first for COVID-19 and now for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — are well established.”

Messenger RNA, or mRNA technology, made headlines when it was used for Moderna and Pfizer‘s vaccines against the virus that causes COVID-19 during the pandemic. According to the National Library of Medicine, mRNA technology was “decades in development as a therapy for cancer and for prevention of infectious diseases.”

Whereas traditional vaccines introduce a weakened or dead virus into your immune system, which then prompts your immune system to produce antibodies to fight the virus, mRNA teaches your body to make a “small part” of the virus, generally a protein, the Cleveland Clinic explains.

Your body fights that protein, thereby having the tools to recognize it and kill it in the case you’re infected with the actual virus.

Results from Moderna’s bird flu vaccine research were positive and generated “a rapid, potent and durable immune response,” the company said in a statement.

Earlier this week, HHS head Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines, announced they were rolling back Covid vaccine recommendations for pregnant women and children amid health experts citing research showing pregnant women who were sickened with Covid faced worse outcomes.