HHS cancels Moderna's $590M bird flu vaccine award
The Trump administration canceled a nearly $600 million award to Moderna to develop an mRNA vaccine for bird flu in humans, the company announced Wednesda y.
Why it matters: It ends one of the remaining Biden-era efforts aimed at creating vaccines for pandemic preparedness. But the company said it would explore alternatives for further developing and manufacturing the shot.
Driving the news: Moderna reported positive early stage data on the mRNA vaccine, saying clinical testing in roughly 300 adults was found to be generally well-tolerated.
Participants achieved 98% immunity within three weeks of the second dose of the vaccine, the company said.
"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 of the Phase 1/2 study of our H5 avian flu vaccine and we will explore alternative paths forward for the program," Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement.
"These clinical data in pandemic influenza underscore the critical role mRNA technology has played as a countermeasure to emerging health threats."
Details: The funds awarded in January from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority were aimed at creating a line of defense against H5N1 in peoplethat matches the strains circulating in cows and birds.
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The Trump administration is making the country less safe for domestic violence victims
Over the last four decades, the United States has built a web of federal policies and funding to address domestic and intimate partner violence, a pervasive health and safety crisis. In just 130 days, the Trump administration has put that safety net in jeopardy. Funding pauses, cuts, firings and information purges have destabilized the infrastructure that helps victims of abuse. At the same time, federal teams dedicated to preventing sexual violence are being decimated. Departments in charge of administering grants that fund shelters for those fleeing assault have been deemed 'duplicative, DEI or simply unnecessary.' The first budget recommendation proposed by the administration of a man found liable for sexual abuse suggests eliminating the team tackling rape prevention and education. It takes a limited view of who is worthy of help to flee abuse. 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They haven't solved the problem — but lawmakers and advocates say the Violence Against Women Act and its predecessor, the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, have been essential to the protection of victims and the decline in violent crime. Federal grant programs are the lifeblood of domestic violence services programs — and they have been threatened since the day Trump returned to office. His executive orders on gender and 'illegal' diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility led to lists of banned words. Federal departments raced to sanitize their communications, eradicating decades of research and data. Meanwhile, the Office of Management and Budget issued a short-lived freeze on funding distributions pending evaluation of programs for compliance with executive orders. Nonprofits that relied on federal funds to provide services to victims of domestic violence scrambled for legal advice: Was their budget at risk because they had a pride flag on their website? Did they also have to erase all mentions of banned words? The National Domestic Violence Hotline, which is largely funded by appropriations from the Department of Health and Human Services, removed resources for LGBTQ+ survivors from its website. The majority of state domestic violence coalitions, the umbrella organizations that support direct service providers, took their websites offline — though when asked if it was related to Trump's actions, most declined to answer on the record. So far, there has only been one reported case of a grant from the Office on Violence Against Women being revoked, but hundreds of grants already issued by the Office of Justice Programs were abruptly canceled because they no longer aligned with the administration's priorities. Even while some of the cuts were reversed, the moves created uncertainty that makes it impossible for victims services organizations to plan, increasing the stresses of work that is already difficult and traumatic. 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In addition to complying with executive orders on gender and DEI, the new restrictions put forth a more limited view of interventions around domestic violence. Activities that 'frame domestic violence or sexual assault as systemic social justice issues rather than criminal offenses (e.g., prioritizing criminal justice reform or social justice theories over victim safety and offender accountability)' are banned, as well as activities that 'discourage collaboration with law enforcement.' Initiatives that 'prioritize illegal aliens over U.S. citizens' are also not allowed. Rita Smith, an international expert on violence against women, is publicly raising the alarm about these changes. As the Office on Violence Against Women announces new grants on LinkedIn, Smith reshares them to her large network with a warning. 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When the Trump administration fired nearly every federal employee within the CDC's Division of Violence Prevention, it did away with the only team at the federal level working specifically on domestic and intimate partner violence prevention. The program they oversaw — called DELTA, or Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancements and Leadership Through Alliances — was first created in 2002 to harness federally funded research and expertise on the causes of intimate partner violence, along with the connections of state and local domestic violence groups, so fewer people become victims in the first place. Getting that work off the ground asked already strained groups trying to serve victims to shift some of their energy to prevention work, but staff at the CDC at the time, and until April, remained committed to what one laid-off worker referred to as the 'cultural norms change' that's a key part of preventing domestic and intimate partner violence. 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The post The Trump administration is making the country less safe for domestic violence victims appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter.
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