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.

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

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.