Health Officials Announce New Effort to Develop Universal Vaccines Targeting Multiple Virus Strains

The platform is an alternative to the ‘wasteful Project NextGen,’ a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson says.

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (L) and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speak in Washington on April 22, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Federal health officials on May 1 announced a new effort to develop vaccines targeting a range of viruses, including the virus that causes COVID-19.

The Generation Gold Standard project will fund the National Institutes of Health (NIH) development of “universal influenza and coronavirus vaccines” that “aim to provide broad-spectrum protection against multiple strains of pandemic-prone viruses,” including the avian influenza—commonly known as the bird flu—and SARS-CoV-2, or the virus that causes COVID-19, the NIH and its parent agency said in a statement.

The budget of the new project has not been disclosed. Officials said that it was being promoted over Project NextGen, a $5 billion initiative started in 2023 under the previous administration that focused primarily on COVID-19.

“It delivers a cost-effective, accountable alternative to the Biden administration’s wasteful Project NextGen, which spent $1.63 billion on COVID-19 vaccines and $1.19 billion on therapeutics, neglecting broader pandemic preparedness,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the NIH’s parent agency, told The Epoch Times in an email.

One of the NIH’s vaccine candidates, BPL-1357, performed well in a phase one safety study, the NIH’s principal deputy director, Dr. Matthew Memoli, and other researchers reported in January.

BPL-1357, an intranasal vaccine billed as providing protection against a number of influenza A viruses, is being tested in clinical trials and is on track for regulatory approval by 2029, officials said.

Another candidate, BPL-24910, has been tested for toxicity, according to an HHS grant. There are no clinical trials listed for BPL-24910 in the government’s trial database.

The platform from which the vaccines come is fully owned by the government, which “ensures radical transparency, public accountability, and freedom from commercial conflicts of interest,” health officials said.

They also said that vaccines could eventually be developed with the platform against several other viruses, including the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

“Our commitment is clear: every innovation in vaccine development must be grounded in gold standard science and transparency, and subjected to the highest standards of safety and efficacy testing,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.

NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya added: “Generation Gold Standard is a paradigm shift.

“It extends vaccine protection beyond strain-specific limits and prepares for flu viral threats—not just today’s, but tomorrow’s as well—using traditional vaccine technology brought into the 21st century.”

Officials had said earlier in the week that no new vaccines will be approved until they’re tested against placebos. They also said they’re considering removing COVID-19 vaccines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention childhood vaccination schedule, and indicated that they may not approve updated COVID-19 vaccines for the next virus season.

Some companies, including Moderna, have been working on vaccines that target both COVID-19 and the flu, but none have been submitted for approval.

Project NextGen provided funding for multiple companies to develop new COVID-19 vaccines, in addition to funding for new treatments and other measures that could help with future COVID-19 outbreaks.

HHS stopped distributing funding to Vaxart and Geovax, which are developing COVID-19 vaccines under Project NextGen, although it recently lifted the stop-work order for Vaxart’s study.