In a decision which has dismayed scientists, US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has cancelled nearly $500m of grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines, reports The New York Times.
It is the latest blow to research on this technology. Two months ago the Department of Health and Human Services revoked a nearly $600m contract to Moderna to develop a bird flu vaccine.
The latest announcement was slammed by those in the science field, many of whom regard mRNA shots as the best option for protecting Americans in a pandemic.
“This is a bad day for science,” said Scott Hensley, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania who has been working to develop an mRNA vaccine against influenza.
First used during the Covid-19 pandemic by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, mRNA shots instruct the body to produce a fragment of a virus, which then sets off the body’s immune response.
Unlike traditional vaccines, which can take years to develop and test, mRNA shots can be made within months and quickly altered as the virus changes. The technology won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2023.
Vaccine sceptics have long distrusted the technology, with Kennedy once calling Covid shots “the deadliest vaccine ever made”.
In a video posted on social media on Tuesday, he claimed that mRNA vaccines do not protect against respiratory illnesses like Covid and flu, and that a single mutation in a virus renders the vaccine ineffective.
“As the pandemic showed us, mRNA vaccines don’t perform well against viruses that infect the upper respiratory tract,” he said in the video.
Scientists disputed his claims as inaccurate.
“By issuing this wildly incorrect statement, the Secretary is demonstrating his commitment to his long-held goal of sowing doubts about all vaccines,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Centre at the Brown University School of Public Health.
“Had we not used these lifesaving mRNA vaccines to protect against severe illness, we would have had millions of more Covid deaths,” she said.
The Health Department said in its statement that the cancellations affected 22 projects managed by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, and that it would favour other types of shots over those using mRNA, like whole-cell vaccines, an approach that is more than 100 years old.
The United States has not used a whole-cell vaccine for whooping cough since the 1990s, for example, because it was potent but harsh, often setting off high fevers and seizures.
Kennedy himself has assailed leading international vaccine organisation, Gavi – the Vaccine Alliance – for continuing to use the whole-cell vaccine in low-income countries, citing it as the reason the United States was pulling funding from the organisation.
Chris Meekins, an assistant secretary for pandemic preparedness in the first Trump administration, said that ending BARDA’s mRNA work created a “national security vulnerability”.
“These tools serve as a deterrent to prevent other nations from using certain biological agents,” Meekins said. “The speed of the technology to create new biodefence capabilities is a national security asset.”
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Moderna gets millions for mRNA jab against future pandemics
Nobel Prize goes to duo for Covid mRNA jab technology
Two-in-one flu/Covid jab passes trial with flying colours