Considerable efforts are underway to develop a Zika vaccine. In September 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced an $8.2 million contract to help speed the development of a vaccine to prevent the spread of the Zika virus. One company, Moderna Therapeutics of Cambridge, MA, is developing a vaccine that uses mRNA containing the genetic sequence of the Zika virus to generate an immune response in individuals. The vaccine is now undergoing human safety trials.
Vaccines from the mRNA technology are more rapid than other vaccine technologies that require the growth and purification of an attenuated (weakened) or inactivated (killed) virus. Moderna is designing its mRNA vaccine to be easy to administer without any specialized delivery devices.
