Last year, Moderna announced a $400 million royalty payment to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). More recently, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reportedly demanded past-due royalties from BioNTech relating to mRNA technology.

Was protecting the NIH’s royalty payments the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) end game all along?

When the U.S. government’s control of all COVID-19 vaccines ends about the time of the scheduled Dec. 31, 2024, end of the COVID-19 emergency — and presumably the end of liability protection for vaccine makers under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act — what will happen is anybody’s guess.

HHS is mired in a delicate balancing act — one agency moves and the entire house of cards falls. HHS painted itself into a corner protecting pharma and agency interests while the people get the bum’s rush.