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 current public-health risk is low, but the CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposure.

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

CDC officials say they extended the guidance now because they are seeing more H5N1 patients whose illness they cannot track back to an infected bird or cow.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitals treating people for the flu should test them for avian influenza within 24 hours.