WASHINGTON, Jan 18, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US health officials announced Friday they were awarding $590 million to Moderna to develop mRNA vaccines against influenza, including advancing the company's bird flu vaccine, as fears of a new pandemic grow.

The funding will help Moderna "enhance mRNA platform capabilities so that the US is better prepared to respond to other emerging infectious diseases," the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a statement.

The money "allows Moderna to accelerate development of an H5N1 mRNA influenza vaccine that is well matched to strains currently circulating in cows and birds."

This is in addition to the $176 million Moderna was awarded in July 2024.

And on Thursday the US government announced $211 million in new funding for a consortium of private and public laboratories to develop messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines against emerging bio-threats.

Past bird flu variants have been unpredictable and dangerous to humans.

"That is why this response has been a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration and HHS," said the department's secretary, Xavier Becerra, referring to outgoing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The H5N1 virus is common in wild birds and other animals. While it has not conclusively been found to spread from person to person, the amount of bird flu circulating among animals and humans has alarmed scientists.

Many experts fear that H5N1, coupled with seasonal flu, could mutate into a more contagious form and trigger a deadly pandemic.

So far, 67 people in the United States have been infected with avian influenza since the outbreak began last year.

The first death from the US outbreak was recorded early this month, an elderly man in Louisiana.

The new funding comes as Donald Trump prepares to assume the US presidency on January 20. The Republican has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, to head HHS, and he has promised to reform the department.