The US Department of Health and Human Services will award $590 million to Moderna to continue developing a vaccine to protect against bird flu, the pharmaceutical company announced Friday.

As fears grow of a possible bird flu pandemic in humans, the federal government is pouring more money into the development of new vaccines, including an mRNA shot.

The U.S. government has awarded Moderna $590 million to advance the late-stage development of its mRNA bird flu vaccine, as the country doubles down on efforts to tackle increasing infections in humans.

The announcement comes one week after officials announced that H5N1 had been detected in a backyard flock in Oakland County and that 12 people who'd had contact with the infected

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