Scientists have spent decades in hot pursuit of a universal influenza vaccine—a single shot to protect people from past and possible future strains of a frequently mutating virus. This would lessen the need of annual flu shots to boost the immune system before seasonal cases surge.

Now the Trump administration is reportedly brewing plans to invest $500 million in a universal vaccine research project, according to the Wall Street Journal. The potential federal funding appears to be part of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and National Institutes of Health initiative, called Generation Gold Standard, to develop a universal vaccine platform based on a so-called beta-propiolactone-inactivated (BPL-inactivated) whole-virus approach, in which whole viruses are killed and used in a vaccine.