HHS redirects $500 million to Trump appointee's vaccine project, bypassing reviews
CBSN
The Department of Health and Human Services has transferred $500 million from research into next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, redirecting the money to a single vaccine project linked to the Trump administration's former acting head of the National Institutes of Health.
Multiple federal health officials said they were surprised by the announcement, which bypassed the usual procedures overseen by career scientists at the NIH and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, known as BARDA. Those reviews are intended to ensure that federal research money goes to the projects with the greatest scientific merit.
The HHS says the initiative, dubbed "Generation Gold Standard," aims to start clinical trials next year for universal influenza vaccines that could protect against any strain of the virus. It hopes to get a vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration by 2029.
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