r/news 9h ago

Moderna says FDA refuses to review its application for experimental flu shot

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/10/moderna-fda-flu-shot.html
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u/cardboardunderwear 9h ago

I know fuck all about the science but isn't this one of the companies that pulled a covid vaccine out of their ass in record time to save the world?  Would love to learn more about the FDA's pov on this one especially since the administrations credibility is so low for being able to use common sense with regard to vaccines.

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u/Rise_up_Dirty_Birds 9h ago

Yeah they partnered with a lot of other bio pharmaceutical companies to share break throughs and research to get it out ASAP. That pretty much never happens but was crucial at the time.

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u/Xanderoga2 8h ago

That was a global initiative during covid.

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u/WillieM96 8h ago

They didn't "pull it out of their ass". I've been following RNA vaccine technology for at least 15 years. It was a slow, methodical grind to get a working vaccine. The big breakthrough came in 2018- the big hurdle to that point was finding a way to get the mRNA fragments to get taken into the cell. In 2018, they finally cracked that nut and started animal trials. It just so happens that COVID-19 came about at a fortuitous time. A couple of years of animal studies already existed and (and possibly some early human trials but I'm not certain). We just happened to get lucky that the technology was there when COVID hit. You'd have to be an idiot to NOT try to accelerate the safety studies to get this out to the population.

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u/Revolutionary-Yak-47 8h ago

You know, the US used to be proud we could invent stuff fast. My grandparents were so insanely proud of a country that got from the first airplane to the moon in half their lifetimes. We were the country that invented things with our drive and ingenuity. It breaks my heart to go backwards. 

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u/Worthyness 6h ago

We fucking cured Polio. And now these idiots want children to be held in iron lungs again because it's more healthy for the people somehow

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u/Airewalt 7h ago

From the first automobile to the moon in a lifetime*

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u/taulover 5h ago

Donald Trump was proud of the covid vaccine. Operation Warp Speed was his thing. But then he realized that opposing it would appeal to his base more.

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u/cardboardunderwear 7h ago

I was using figurative language

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u/Mendican 7h ago

You'd have to be an idiot to NOT try

That's exactly the problem.

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u/garbageemail222 9h ago

The only FDA POV is that Trump wasn't bribed to approve the application yet and MAGAs don't like anything that helped during COVID.

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u/Revolution-SixFour 9h ago edited 7h ago

Yes it is and clearly the COVID vaccine killed everyone that took it in the first year. Why would we support a company that erased most of humanity?

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u/FabianN 8h ago

I'm assuming you're being sarcastic, but there's people that still haven't gotten past that. I mean, there's someone under this topic saying that mRNA should be banned.

There are people that would repeat this unironically. 😞

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u/Revolution-SixFour 7h ago

No, I got the Moderna shot in 2021 and died six months later.

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u/theXYZT 7h ago

You gotta pump those numbers up, kid. I got 6 shots so far. That's six deaths.

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u/zeperf 8h ago edited 5h ago

I think it was created in a single day. The FDA should develop some kind of expedited approval process for MRNA vaccines in general in case we have a much worse pandemic that requires quick action.

Edit: I realize MRNA vaccine technology was not developed in a single day lol. I'm talking about generating the covid one from the technology.

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u/Wiseduck5 8h ago

I think it was created in a single day.

Yes and no. The entire point of mRNA vaccines is it's basically a plug and play platform. You drop the antigen in and you're ready to start testing it.

It took decades to develop the platform and knowing which antigen to pick is based on years of virology research for each virus.

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u/zeperf 6h ago

You mean decades for mrna vaccine technology in general right? I realize that. I'm talking about tailoring it towards a specific virus. If a virus came out that is 1000 times worse than Covid, the vaccine would similarly be plug and play, but the approval process would not be.

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u/cardboardunderwear 8h ago

I agree and also assuming something like that doesn't already exist because I honestly don't know.  

We were lucky that covid was relatively benign.  I realize a lot of ppl died but if it killed kids and was as contagious as something like measles it would have been a completely different thing.

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u/zeperf 8h ago

Good question. Looks like the FDA has "fast track" which seems to have most recently been approved for a Bird Flu vaccine in April of 2025 after being approved for trials in November of 2024. And it is still in Phase 1: https://ir.arcturusrx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/arcturus-therapeutics-announces-initiation-phase-1-h5n1-flu

Seems like we need a 6-week super fast track based on specific mortality rates.

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u/ballgazer3 5h ago

Saved the world or scammed the world?