The US Department of Health and Human Services is terminating a contract with drugmaker Moderna to develop a vaccine to protect against bird flu amid the agency’s broader efforts to reevaluate therapies that use mRNA technology.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly questioned the safety of mRNA technology, which is used in the company’s shot.

The Trump administration has canceled $766 million awarded to Moderna to develop a vaccine against potential pandemic influenza viruses, including the H5N1 bird flu.

Moderna had been awarded over $750 million to develop a vaccine against bird flu, which has been circulating in farm animals and sickening people.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Moderna's next-generation COVID-19 vaccine for everyone aged 65 and above, the company said on Saturday, the first endorsement since the regulator tightened requirements.

Pharmaceutical rivals don’t often come to each other’s defense. But after the US Department of Health and Human Services terminated a contract with drugmaker Moderna to develop an mRNA bird flu vaccine,

The nation’s top public health agency has posted new recommendations that healthy children and pregnant women may — but no longer should — get COVID-19 vaccinations.