The Trump administration has canceled $766 million in government contracts awarded by the Biden administration to Moderna for the development of a bird flu vaccine for humans. An HHS spokesperson stated that a comprehensive internal review by the agency concluded that the project did not meet the required safety expectations or scientific standards. Establishment media outlets have derided the decision as a dire threat to public safety, but logic and facts suggest the decision is quite sensible.
Bird flu is rarely transmitted to humans. Although strains of the virus were hazardous to humans decades ago, most recent cases have been relatively mild: Out of 70 reported US cases in the last 14 months, there was only one reported fatality. No new cases have been reported in the last three months.
Scientifically, there are understandable reasons for the bird flu die-off: The disease is widespread in migratory wild bird populations that have completed their springtime flights. Moreover, the bird flu virus does not thrive in sunlight, and poultry producers have been holding their breath for long, warm days to protect their flocks naturally.
Unscientifically, rumors abound in news headlines seemingly crafted to attract clicks, or maybe sympathy for Big Pharma’s lost taxpayer gravy. The Associated Press, for example, stretched to the University of Saskatchewan in Canada to unearth virologist Angela Rasmussen for an “all things Trump” speculation that is more political than scientific. CNN reported:
“ ‘….targeted surveillance has really dropped off precipitously since Trump took office.’
“She wonders if immigrant farmworkers are too scared to come forward.
“‘I can’t argue with anyone who would be risking getting shipped to a Salvadoran gulag for reporting an exposure or seeking testing,’ she said.”
Most American citizens understand that they have no more chance of dying from bird flu than they do of being deported to a Salvadoran gulag. Such media hype has engendered bird flu fatigue: Egg prices are falling, cows are not sick, and the lack of a single reported case in months is probably not due to terrified illegal farmworkers.
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Bird flu does not spread from person to person, a fact that may be disappointing to Moderna and other companies that stand to make billions of dollars if it did. President Trump has banned gain-of-function research, reducing the likelihood of a human-to-human strain created in a Frankensteinian laboratory. Yet the press fashions “what-if” clickbait headlines about cats infecting humans, or risks from raw milk.
A recent headline at ZME Science declares: “Bird Flu Is Killing Cats and Is on a Dangerous Path Toward Humans.” The exaggerated fearmongering is reminiscent of a 1950’s science fiction movie:
“Researchers at the University of Maryland recently revealed a disturbing trend: cats are catching bird flu—and dying from it—in growing numbers. The virus that once haunted poultry farms is now taking a deadlier and wider turn, cutting across species lines and borders.
“The virus has evolved, and the way that it jumps between species—from birds to cats, and now between cows and cats, cats and humans—is very concerning,” said Dr. Kristen Coleman, lead author of the study and assistant professor at UMD’s School of Public Health.”
The article recounts a terrifying 604 cases of bird flu in cats from 2004 to 2024, and 66 cases of bird flu in humans since April 2022. It anxiously hypothesizes the possibility of the disease becoming transmissible to humans through cats, citing an incident in 2016 where two New Yorkers became infected in this manner by an entirely different strain. The article refers to cats getting bird flu “most alarmingly—through unknown means.”
It is not particularly alarming to humans that cats have contracted bird flu, which they rarely spread to humans. The CDC reports that 864 cases of hantavirus, spread by mice, have been reported in the US. Suppose Moderna had a billion-dollar grant to develop a hantavirus vaccine. Would US headlines histrionically highlight the risks of catastrophic death due to the alarmingly unknown means by which mice contract the disease, and likely exposure of cats to mice? (Where is monkeypox these days, btw?)
In Februray, NBC News published “Trump’s drive to reshape government threatens bird flu response: Disruptions to funding and public communication at health agencies come at a potentially perilous time,” in which it recounted the egg price tropes and added this scary statement:
“Kennedy has also been a proponent of drinking raw milk, which can put people at risk of foodborne illness, including avian flu. The CDC has warned that it might be possible to contract bird flu from drinking raw milk and urged Americans to drink only pasteurized milk.”
Note the tenuous links here: The article argues drinking raw milk “can put people at risk” of avian flu infection, then proffers the CDC as scientific justification, which in actuality states only that “it might be possible.” Just like it “might be possible” that bird flu one day will jump from cats to humans, or from person to person. It also “might be possible” that Moderna’s bird flu vaccines won’t work or that they might inflict injuries of their own – but let’s not spread unproven fears.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. stated during his confirmation hearing that he intends to focus more on tackling chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease (that kill millions of Americans annually) than infectious diseases (that might kill people someday). In doing so, he is killing profits for Moderna, Reuters reports “has been banking on revenue from newer mRNA shots, including its bird flu vaccine and experimental COVID-flu combination vaccine, to make up for waning post-pandemic demand for its COVID vaccine.”
Americans don’t need to spend nearly a billion dollars for a novel vaccine that may or may not work for a disease that does not yet exist. The Trump administration is sensibly steering public resources toward human health over corporate profits.