United States health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced on Tuesday that The Department of Health and Human Services has cancelled $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine development. The cancellation will impact 22 projects that work to develop vaccines for respiratory viruses, such as COVID-19 and the flu.
mRNA, or messenger RNA, vaccines work by introducing a cell similar to the viral cell, allowing the immune system to create proteins to fight off the virus, if infected. These vaccines do not change your DNA or put a live virus into the body.
Kennedy is a longtime critic of vaccines, and has previously pushed the invalid theory that vaccines are linked to autism.
Kennedy said in a statement on X this termination comes because “data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu.”
Experts, however, say that these vaccines were critical during the COVID-19 pandemic, and mRNA development is important to be prepared when the next medical crisis comes, as reported by NBC News.
Kennedy said, “We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate.” He has not yet made clear what these new approaches will be.
