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FDA Rejects Moderna's mRNA Flu Vaccine Over Trial Design

Is the FDA protecting public health with rigorous standards or sabotaging innovation with impossible demands?
FDA Rejects Moderna's mRNA Flu Vaccine Over Trial Design
Above: A Moderna sign on Dec. 28, 2024 at Fenway Park. Image credit: Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

The Spin

Establishment-critical narrative

Requiring rigorous trials with proper controls strengthens vaccine trust and regulatory integrity. The FDA should demand higher standards for approval, especially for drugs treating common conditions, and Prasad is making sure those standards are met. Forcing industry to fund more robust studies improves the entire system.

Pro-establishment narrative

Moderna invested $750 million in trials proving mRNA-1010 beats traditional vaccines by 25% for vulnerable seniors, yet the FDA invented impossible demands that crashed stocks 18% and halted 150 million lifesaving doses. This political sabotage forces reliance on slower, weaker egg-based shots while punishing innovation.

Metaculus Prediction



The Controversies



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© 2026 Improve the News Foundation. All rights reserved.Version 6.18.0

© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 6.18.0