BUZZ-Vaccine makers gain amid growing concerns around bird flu

** Shares of vaccine maker Moderna MRNA.O rise ~6% to $45.05, Novavax NVAX.O rise ~8% to $10.52, and U.S.-listed shares of Germany's CureVac N.V 5CV.DE rise 8.1% to $4.8 premarket

** NVAX gained 21.4% and MRNA gained 2.4% over the last 6 days

** Brookline Capital Markets analyst Leah Cann said increasing concerns around bird flu could be contributing to the vaccine makers' recent share gains

** The U.S. government in July awarded $176 million to MRNA to complete late-stage development and testing of a pre-pandemic mRNA-based bird flu vaccine

** The U.S. on Monday reported its first human death from H5N1 bird flu in Louisiana

** Moderna lost 58.2% of its value in 2024, marking its third straight year of losses, while NVAX snapped a two-year losing streak gaining ~68%

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru)

((Mariam.ESunny@thomsonreuters.com;))