{"id":11914,"date":"2026-04-29T19:15:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T00:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/?p=11914"},"modified":"2026-04-29T19:15:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T00:15:51","slug":"in-readiness-for-the-next-pandemic-human-trials-begin-of-an-mrna-vaccine-for-bird-flu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/2026\/04\/29\/in-readiness-for-the-next-pandemic-human-trials-begin-of-an-mrna-vaccine-for-bird-flu\/","title":{"rendered":"In Readiness For The Next Pandemic, Human Trials Begin Of An mRNA Vaccine For Bird Flu"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/in-readiness-for-the-next-pandemic-human-trials-begin-of-an-mrna-vaccine-for-bird-flu-83296?fbclid=IwY2xjawRffYxleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFmQVh0RlczR3NtcDJSOFdPc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHhqLEmCRlMcDQwO7-XV9NdV_bqm8qAosHWwYUTpKSV6nHdrFu4ig9ru2PmLl_aem_259fYXqTeRamk6XNF9BJbw\">IFL Science<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An mRNA vaccine for avian influenza, developed by pharma company Moderna, has begun Phase 3 human trials. Building on the same technology used in their highly successful COVID-19 vaccine, the aim is to shore up the world\u2019s defences against what is widely considered to be one of the biggest viral threats facing humanity. The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/tags\/H5N1\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"H5N1, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">H5N1<\/a>&nbsp;subtype of influenza A, often referred to as just \u201cbird flu\u201d because of its species\u2019 of origin, has shown it has the capability to adapt to many different animals, feathered and non-feathered alike. Starting in 2024, reports came in from US dairy farms of cattle becoming infected, followed by a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/a-third-human-bird-flu-case-is-confirmed-in-us-with-a-new-set-of-symptoms-74455\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"small but concerning, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">small but concerning<\/a>&nbsp;number of human infections. Species as diverse as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/alpacas-get-bird-flu-too-world-first-report-confirms-infections-on-idaho-farm-74441\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"alpacas, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">alpacas<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/bird-flu-kills-20-big-cats-at-sanctuary-in-washington-state-77405\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"cats, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cats<\/a>, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/after-killing-half-of-south-georgias-elephant-seals-avian-flu-reaches-remote-island-in-the-indian-ocean-81709\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"seals, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">seals<\/a>&nbsp;have all been affected. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because of this multi-species spread, and because&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/spanish-flu-genome-resurrected-from-107-year-old-lung-revealing-deadly-mutations-80292\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"history has shown us, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">history has shown us<\/a>&nbsp;the devastation that flu can bring, health authorities around the world are concerned about the virus\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/americans-are-underestimating-bird-flu-in-a-future-pandemic-that-could-be-a-problem-78892\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"pandemic potential, opens in a new window\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pandemic potential<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IFL Science An mRNA vaccine for avian influenza, developed by pharma company Moderna, has begun Phase 3 human trials. Building on the same technology used in their highly successful COVID-19 vaccine, the aim is to shore up the world\u2019s defences against what is widely considered to be one of the biggest viral threats facing humanity. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avian-influenza"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11915,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11914\/revisions\/11915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}