Bird Flu? Don’t Worry, We Fired the Scientists

The Trump administration’s recent decision to cancel $766 million in funding to vaccine company Moderna for the development of a bird flu vaccine represents an ominous retreat from America’s pandemic preparedness. Originally allocated by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), IT was meant to advance the development of an mRNA-based vaccine, mRNA-1018, which targets an H5N1 avian influenza strain that virologists fear could mutate and cause a deadly human pandemic.