Moderna’s Flu Shot Ordeal Hurts Innovation — and Public Health

The Food and Drug Administration’s recent decision to turn away Moderna’s application for a new flu shot for older Americans is a troubling development in health officials’ piecemeal dismantling of the US vaccine infrastructure.

The biotech firm’s shot had been tested in a huge, late-stage trial of more than 40,000 adults aged 50 and older, where it appeared more effective than the standard flu vaccine most of us take. That should have been enough to at least merit an FDA review — in the past, that is. But it landed at US regulators’ desk at a time of incredible scrutiny of both its underlying mRNA technology and vaccines in general.