Bird flu isn’t part of the “quad-demic” of viruses circulating through the country this winter—COVID, seasonal flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and norovirus—and its risk to public health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),

The latest funding is a sign of how seriously the Biden administration appears to be taking the pandemic threat.

The government wants Moderna to push forward with various bird flu vaccines as well as mRNA shots for other influenza strains with pandemic potential.

Moderna has been testing an mRNA candidate for influenza viruses like the H5 and H7 strains that are seen as pandemic threats. Others, including GSK and Pfizer, are also at work on similar shots.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will award roughly $590 million to Moderna to accelerate the development of mRNA-based pandemic influenza vaccines, including vaccines for avian flu strains, to ensure the United States is better prepared for future potential pandemics, according to a recent HHS news release.

According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control, the current bird flu outbreak has caused 67 human cases of bird flu in the U.S. and one death associated with the virus.

Moderna has been awarded approximately $590 million from the federal government to help speed up the development of an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine, health officials said.

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

While drugmakers are hard at work on the shots, they’re not yet ready to blunt the impact of a potential pandemic.