RFK Jr. cuts $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts, dealing major blow to promising area of research

The Trump administration ends 22 contracts to the development of mRNA vaccines and the reduction of additional federal investments in the ARNA, technology and social services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced on Tuesday.

Many scientists and experts in infectious diseases quickly denounced movement as a large in a research field considered to be particularly promising after its use in the rapid development of coids vaccines.

The projects that are underway have been financed by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a program of the Ministry of Health and Social Services that work with the pharmaceutical industry to develop vaccines and other countermeasures for public health emergencies.

“These are not only a question of vaccines,” said Rick Bright, who produced Barda from 2016 to 2020, in an SMS. “This is to know if we are ready when the next crisis strikes.

“The cochemiah pandemic showed us what is possible when science moves quickly,” he added. “The dismantling of this momentum is like dissolving the fire service because the fire is extinguished.”

Kennedy said on Tuesday that terminated contracts were worth nearly $ 500 million. Among them, a price to the medical branch of the University of Texas and at the Biotechnology Company Moderna to develop a vaccine based on the mRNA for H5N1, the strain of the bird flu which infected dozens of people in the United States.

“After examining the best experts in science and advice at NIH and FDA, HHS determined that mRNA technology has more risks and advantages for these respiratory viruses,” said Kennedy in a video ad on X.

“Let me be absolutely clear, HHS takes care of safe and effective vaccines for each American who wants them,” he added. “This is why we go beyond the limits of mRNA for respiratory viruses and invest in better solutions.”

This decision adds assembly evidence that Kennedy, a high-level figure of the anti-vaccine movement which softened its rhetoric after the presidential election and in confirmation hearings, continues an aggressive anti-vaccine program which includes the emptying of a crucial advisory committee of vaccines and the reduction of $ 2 billion in a program that supports vaccines for children bulky.

Kennedy described the plans coded as “the deadliest vaccine ever made”, an assertion contradicted by study trains that found them safe. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that vaccines have saved more than 200,000 lives in the United States and prevented more than 1.5 million hospitalizations in the first 10 months they were available.

Many pharmaceutical companies have prioritized mRNA research because the platform can easily be updated to target new viruses or variants, and scientists see it as an important tool for preparing future pandemics.

But mRNA technology has become a main target for anti -vaccine activists who have argued – despite in progress and considerable research – that it represents a threat of massive security.

The defense of children’s health, the Anti-Vaccin group founded by Kennedy, applauded on Tuesday projects of vaccine against the BARDA financing mRNA.

“Although we think that the photos of mrnm on the market are not sure and should be out of the market, it is a welcome step in the right direction. The industry of pandemic preparation as it exists today is a threat to human well-being,” CEO Mary Holland said in a press release on X.

In his announcement on Tuesday, Kennedy suggested that mRNA vaccines do not protect themselves enough against Covid and the flu, that they can be made ineffective by a single mutation and that they can even prolong pandemics.

But experts in infectious diseases and vaccines said that he has badly tense science.

“This is exactly why the mRNA is so precious: it is the only platform where you can really update the vaccine very quickly,” said Dr. Jake Scott, specialist in infectious diseases at Stanford Medicine.

The termination of Arnm contracts under Barda is “a very erroneous and irresponsible decision and I would say an reckless decision,” said Scott. “This really reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the functionality of vaccines and how a particular respiratory virus vaccine should work.”

Kennedy said on Tuesday that Barda’s financing would be moved to “safer and wider vaccine platforms that remain effective even if viruses mutate”, such as whole vaccines, which use weakened or disabled viruses to trigger immune responses.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania Children’s Hospital, said that whole virus vaccines have existed since the late 1800s, noting that “we are making safer and better vaccines” today because of technological advances.

The reduction of mRNA contracts is “another political decision conceived by our secretary of health and social services which is not based on science,” said Offer. “It’s a dangerous thing to do.”