Breaking down how a massive U.S. funding cut could impact future mRNA vaccines
The Trump administration says it is pulling half a billion dollars from U.S. government-funded research projects to create new mRNA vaccines.
In a statement this week, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic, announced a "co-ordinated wind-down" amounting to the cancellation of $500 million worth of mRNA vaccine development under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
The technology itself was hailed as recently as the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to two scientists whose mRNA discoveries made it possible to create COVID-19 vaccinations. The committee credited mRNA technology with helping to save millions of lives, prevent severe COVID-19, reduce disease burden and enable societies worldwide to reopen.
The loss of research funding has dismayed infectious disease experts who note that mRNA technology allows faster production of shots than older vaccine-production methods, buying precious time if another pandemic virus were to emerge.
Here's how medical experts in Canada and the U.S. are reacting to the funding cut and what they say it could mean.
The U.S. just killed mRNA vaccine funding — what now?
1 day ago
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has cancelled $500 million in funding for the development of mNRA vaccine technology. For The National, CBC's Heather Hiscox asks infectious disease specialist Dr. Allison McGeer and health researcher Bradley Wouters to break down what kind of impact this could have on fighting disease in Canada and around the world.
What is mRNA vaccine technology and why is it exciting?
Vaccines train our immune system to respond to pathogens. Traditionally, vaccines have used inactive or weakened versions of a pathogen that isn't enough to make a person ill, but does kickstart the body's immune response.
Messenger RNA (mRNA), discovered in 1961, is a natural molecule that serves as a recipe for the production of proteins in the body.
In mRNA vaccines, the approach starts with a snippet of genetic code that carries instructions for making proteins.
Scientists pick the protein to target, inject that blueprint into the body's cells, which then make just enough of the proteins to trigger an immune response — essentially producing its own vaccine dose.
Scientists are mainly excited about the speed with which mRNA vaccines can get protection into arms.
Michael Osterholm, an expert on pandemic preparation with the University of Minnesota, says using older vaccine technology to target a pandemic flu strain would take 18 months to make enough doses to vaccinate only about one-fourth of the world.
He says using mRNA technology to make a flu vaccine could change that timeline dramatically. "By the end of the first year, we could vaccinate the world."
Besides the advantage of how quickly mRNA vaccines can be made, Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious diseases specialist in Toronto, says they're also easier to standardize.
"It has a whole lot of other flexibilities that if you know it works, makes it a really exciting addition" to older technologies used to make vaccines.
What mRNA vaccine research is going on now?
Beyond COVID vaccines, mRNA vaccine technology is in a Health Canada approved vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). An mRNA vaccine for influenza has also reached Phase 3 clinical trial, the last step before manufacturers submit to regulators to release a vaccine to market.
There have also been more than 100 clinical trials to assess the potential of mRNA vaccine technology to treat various cancers including lung, breast, prostate, melanoma and, more recently, pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor of pediatrics and molecular virology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, says there's concern that cancelling funding for mRNA vaccine research will have negative consequences for research on other diseases.
"The mRNA technology is looking really exciting for next-generation cancer immunotherapeutics," said Hotez, who also works at Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development.
"So will this throw cold water on a whole big effort that we're pursuing as well to develop next-generation cancer vaccine? That's an unknown question."
Other research teams are testing potential mRNA-based vaccines to fight HIV and to treat autoimmune diseases. These are in early stage clinical trials or animal-stage studies.
Could other countries pick up the slack?
Though there are other countries working on mRNA vaccine technology, Hotez called the U.S. the single largest vaccine market.
He says the announcement that funding was being cut could dissuade pharmaceutical companies from pursuing the vaccine technology if they believe it won't sell there.
He says it's unclear whether other industrialized countries could pool their support to make up the $500 million US cut.
Are there safety issues with mRNA vaccines as RFK Jr. suggested?
In a video on the social media platform X, Kennedy claimed that mRNA vaccines were unsafe and ineffective.
He said that after reviewing the science and consulting top U.S. experts, the department of Health and Human Services (HHS) "has determined that mRNA technology poses more risk than benefits against these respiratory viruses."
In the video, Kennedy also claimed that mRNA vaccines "paradoxically encourage new mutations and can actually prolong pandemics as the virus constantly mutates to escape the protective effects of the vaccine."
Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, says Kennedy is wrong about what prolongs pandemics.
WATCH | What RFK Jr. gets wrong on mRNA vaccines:
Fact checking RFK Jr. on mRNA vaccines
1 day ago
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic, claimed this week that mRNA vaccines can prolong pandemics. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, explains why mRNA vaccines actually help to shorten pandemics.
"Viruses mutate when they replicate, and they replicate when they spread through a population of people," Rasmussen said.
"The best way to prevent a virus from spreading through a population of people is to make sure those people are protected against the virus by vaccination."
In a news release on Tuesday, Kennedy also referred to COVID and flu as upper respiratory infections, which Hotez notes is incorrect.
Unlike the common cold, he says, COVID-19 and influenza are lower respiratory tract infections with significant cardiovascular and other health effects.
"That's part of the disinformation machine … to downplay the severity of these illnesses," said Hotez.
Will lack of funding hurt access to existing flu vaccines?
Rasmussen says influenza vaccines won't be affected in the U.S. as they're manufactured using the inactivated virus method, not mRNA.
In the video posted to social media, Kennedy said the U.S. supports "safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them."
But many infectious disease experts have noted that mRNA vaccines themselves are also safe and effective.
"The mRNA technology has been proven to be highly effective," Hotez said. "By some estimates, 3.2 million American lives were saved by COVID mRNA vaccines during the pandemic."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
Stored in Canada, owned in the U.S.: Sovereignty concerns grow over health data
Canada's population-based health data is a valuable national asset, not just for improving care, but also for advancing the global health AI race. But experts are sounding the alarm that this data may be at risk from foreign surveillance, monetization and a lack of adequate domestic protections. A new report, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, outlines both the opportunities and vulnerabilities tied to Canada's health information. The report urges immediate and multipronged action to protect the data's security and sovereignty. 'The good news is our health data is valuable,' said Dr. Kumanan Wilson, University of Ottawa professor and both the CEO and chief scientific officer of the Bruyère Health Research Institute, in an interview with Wilson says Canada's health data also has monetary value because we are in the age of artificial intelligence and Canada has a lot of what AI needs. 'We have population-based data because we have a public health system,' he said. 'The U.S. doesn't have that. Our data is more valuable than their data.' This, Wilson says, creates a significant economic opportunity for Canada to lead in health AI, but only if the country can ensure the data stays secure and is used appropriately. 'I would rather have a situation where Canadian companies are building AI algorithms based on our data (rather) than U.S. companies , and that Canada can benefit from it,' he said. 'Backdoor access' At the centre of the concern is where and how health data is stored. Electronic medical records from hospitals and clinics are often stored on cloud servers and their management is dominated by three U.S. providers: Epic, Cerner, and MEDITECH. While many are physically located in Canada, they are typically owned and operated by U.S. tech giants , such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. This setup, experts warn, creates a backdoor for U.S. authorities to demand access. 'Just because it's on Canadian soil doesn't necessarily provide the protection , because it is still held by a U.S. company,' said Wilson. The risk isn't theoretical. Following the 2001 Patriot Act and the 2018 Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD Act), U.S. law enforcement agencies can legally compel American companies to hand over data, even if it's stored in another country. 'The U.S. government could still mandate transfer because these are U.S. companies and they will be required to do what the U.S. government asked them to do,' Wilson said. 'We know that this administration can cause companies to do what it wants through offering contracts or access to government contracts and government money.' In an email to Epic said most Canadian customers have their own database and control over it. The company said it is not subject to the U.S. CLOUD Act, as it 'does not meet the definitions for the type of companies to which it applies.' Epic added that the health data of its Canadian customers is stored in Canada, and that 'most customers manage the servers and encryption keys for their data.' For clients who use Epic to host their systems, the company said the data still resides in Canada, with Epic managing the servers and keys. When asked about potential Canadian data localization laws, the company responded that Epic staff have 'years of extensive training and deep expertise' and warned that having another company manage its software could 'significantly increase the risk of data corruption, cyber security breaches, and patient safety errors.' 'Canada could lead the world in health AI' To counter these risks, the report recommends a combination of technological and legislative fixes: Encryption by design to make any intercepted data unreadable without a secure decryption key A blocking statute to prevent companies from complying with foreign data requests Data localization laws to ensure health data remains within Canada Investment in sovereign Canadian cloud infrastructure 'If you're a vendor that wants to operate within Canada, you're going to have to adhere to some rules,' said cybersecurity expert Ritesh Kotak in a video interview with 'Those rules could be the fact that there's data localization requirements, meaning health data, which is highly sensitive, must reside within a particular geographical boundary.' Kotak also emphasized the importance of encrypting data so that even if it ends up in foreign hands, it cannot be read. 'The easiest way to think about this is when you go on a website and you put in a password … if a hacker was to get the data, they wouldn't get the plain text of what you're putting in, they would get mumbo jumbo,' he said. When it comes to security controls, sovereign data storage infrastructure is a key component. 'We need to move in the direction of sovereign Canadian data servers controlled by Canadian companies,' Wilson said. 'Though the U.S. companies are dominant in the market because they are good at what they do… we have to make sure we can match that.' Still, both Wilson and Kotak agree that digitized systems are crucial for modern care. 'We cannot go back to pen and paper,' Kotak said. 'We got to leverage the advancements in technology that are occurring … but we have to think these things through before just hitting 'I agree' and allowing any vendor to come in and introduce a piece of software that may possess additional risks.' Wilson echoed the sentiment, framing the issue not just as one of risk, but of missed opportunity. 'Canada could lead the world in health AI because of our public health system and our population health data,' he said. 'What I would hate to see is the country that is south of our border… use our own data to grow their economy and have a competitive advantage against us.'
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
3 myths about metabolism could be holding you back
Think speeding up your metabolism is key to losing weight? Metabolism has grown into one of the biggest buzzwords in the wellness industry — a tricky code that, if deciphered, is believed to unlock the secrets of weight loss and overall health. Despite the term's ubiquity, one scientist says many people don't understand much of how this basic bodily process works. 'They think it has something to do with how much food we can eat without gaining weight or something like that,' Dr. Kevin Hall told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently on his podcast, Chasing Life. Hall wants to elevate metabolism for different reasons. 'Metabolism is just this incredible biochemical process that basically turns the food that we eat and the oxygen that we breathe into essentially … everything we are and everything we do,' he said. A leading nutrition and metabolism scientist, Hall is well-known for his research on contestants from the reality show 'The Biggest Loser' that helped explain what set participants who kept the weight off apart from those who gained it back. He spent more than two decades at the National Institutes of Health. His later work on ultraprocessed foods investigated its link to obesity, including one study that demonstrated it actively caused participants to overeat. Hall announced his early retirement and exit from NIH in April, citing censorship of how his research findings were communicated. He's now coauthor of the new book 'Food Intelligence: The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us' alongside journalist Julia Belluz. Metabolism and weight loss enter conversations arm in arm, but this, according to Hall, can be reductive. 'I just find it incredibly frustrating sometimes that this idea of metabolism, this really beautiful physiological process that is so fundamental to life, is kind of talked about as, 'Oh well, if you take this supplement, you can boost your metabolism and lose weight,'' he explained to Gupta. Is a faster or higher metabolism really the highway to weight loss? Hall is here to set the record straight, highlighting three misconceptions about metabolism that show there is more to it than meets the eye. Myth 1: People with obesity have slow metabolisms One common belief is that a slower metabolism results in a higher body weight. But mostly, Hall said, the opposite is true. 'Generally, larger people have faster metabolisms than smaller people,' he told Gupta. Hall attributed the pervasiveness of this myth to the way researchers designed early metabolism studies. Scientists initially tried to match up participants' caloric intake to their weight, but they didn't account for the fact that these calorie counts were self-reported. It turned out that those with obesity often underreported the number of calories they ate to a larger degree than their leaner counterparts. This, Hall said, 'led people to a conclusion that, well, if they're eating less calories and they're maintaining their weight, then they must be burning less calories. And maybe the reason why they have obesity is because they have slow metabolisms.' Modern technology now allows researchers to rely on data, not participants' own reports. 'When we actually directly measure people's metabolisms, people with obesity have higher metabolic rates on average than people who are lean,' Hall noted. But the myth that we should be boosting metabolism to treat obesity has stubbornly persisted — and has at times led to deadly consequences. When Stanford University researchers discovered that the chemical compound 2,4-dinitrophenol, or DNP, increased metabolism levels in the 1930s, they enthusiastically promoted it as a safe and effective tool for treating obesity. While DNP did boost metabolism, it also led to side effects that included blindness and death, causing federal drug regulators to quickly withdraw it from the market. 'Maybe,' Hall suggested, 'it shouldn't be too much of a surprise later to realize that with something so fundamentally important to life as metabolism, you can't just turn it up and turn it down with a pharmaceutical drug and not expect some pretty severe side effects, including death.' Myth 2: Metabolism slows down as we age Like weight, age might not affect metabolism as much as you may assume. 'It turns out that until you get to very advanced ages, we're talking 70s and 80s, it looks like our metabolic rate is roughly constant,' Hall said. There are, of course, changes in the aging body that can impact metabolic rates. People 'past the age of 30 or so,' Hall said, are 'tending to lose muscle mass or tending to lose lean mass, and they're tending to gain fat mass. And that alone is anticipated to result in a lower metabolism.' That's because lean muscle burns more calories than fat. But it's these age-related changes — that are not inevitable — and not age itself, that influence one's metabolism. 'Once you get rid of that effect … it doesn't seem like there's a fundamental aging effect to slow metabolism as, as we get older,' Hall concluded. A couple ways to combat the loss of lean muscle mass as you age is by engaging in twice-a-week strength training and getting enough protein in your diet (but no need to go overboard). Myth 3: A high metabolism is necessary for weight loss Another pillar of metabolism mythology is the idea that a slow metabolism is the enemy of continued weight loss. Interventions such as dieting are believed to slow metabolism to the point that you can't lose any additional weight. But keeping your metabolism from slowing down isn't the key to sustained weight loss, Hall said. In fact, it's just the opposite. 'The people who are most successful at losing weight and keeping it off are the ones who sport the slowest metabolisms or the greatest reductions in metabolism,' he said. 'It's kind of like stretching a spring, right?' The more intensely someone diets or exercises, the more weight they'll lose and the more their metabolism will slow down, he explained in his book. Hall's research showed that a slower metabolism 'didn't seem to determine anyone's ability to lose weight or keep it off in the short or long run.' By uncoupling metabolism from the weight loss conversation, Hall said he hopes everyone can appreciate the phenomenon for what it really is. Misinformation about metabolism 'has really distracted people, I think, from the real beauty of what this is,' he told Gupta. 'It's harnessing the continuous flow of matter and energy in our food and in our breath and powering every cell in our body, as well as the bodies and cells of practically every organism that we have ever encountered,' Hall said. 'It's a fundamental component of life, and it's just incredibly fascinating.'
CBC
3 hours ago
- CBC
A new Toronto HIV clinic is 'bridging the gap' in care with free medication and more
A new, free-of-charge clinic in downtown Toronto is hoping to change lives for people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). For people without coverage, it can be next to impossible to afford the medication needed to manage HIV. But access to medication isn't the only service that the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation (PWA) offers. The PWA says it provides immigration services, a food bank and a lunch program to people in Toronto living with HIV. Ower Oberto, the linkage to care manager at the centre, lives with HIV and came to Canada in 2014. "I know how stressful it is not having access to medication," he said. When he first immigrated from Venezuela, Oberto says he didn't know how or even if he could source his medication as a newcomer. "People living with HIV with precarious immigration status, they wouldn't be able to see a doctor or they have to pay that doctor with money out of pocket," he said. "My medication costs more than $1,200 per month." Eleven years later, he now works at the PWA's new clinic providing medication to people with HIV. The clinic was created in partnership with Freddie — a health organization that specializes in HIV prevention and care. "For us it's been an amazing partnership," Oberto said. "We feel like we are family." The PWA's one-room clinic is staffed with two nurses and sees patients once a week, on Wednesdays. Clients don't need to be covered by OHIP or insurance, and vary in immigration status, from international students, to visitors and citizens. "We are bridging all the gaps that have been [letting] … those folks fall into the cracks," Oberto said. "The population we see is a population that is also not easy to support because they don't fill the criteria for the other clinics that are in the city." Clients are set up with patient assistance programs offered by pharmaceutical companies and leave the clinic medication in hand. The clinic is located on the third floor of the PWA's building near Jarvis Street and Queen Street E. Currently the clinic is running a pilot, which began in June. But Oberto has big dreams of scaling up so that it can serve more people with extended hours. "We are looking forward to [having] more days or more hours, because it's getting busier," he said. "We are looking forward … to [having] a bigger clinic and also to have a pharmacy here downstairs." Though the HIV-positive population in Canada is relatively small — approximately 62,790 as of 2020, according to a 2022 Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) report. That number is now growing despite education and prevention campaigns. According to PHAC, 2,434 people learned they carried the virus in 2023, up 35 per cent from the previous year. Of those diagnosed across Canada, PHAC estimates 87 per cent are in treatment and 95 per cent of those have suppressed viral loads, which doctors say makes the virus undetectable, untransmittable and prevents it from progressing to AIDS. A decade ago, the United Nations set a goal to eradicate the HIV epidemic by 2030. "This is the best way to do it," Oberto said.
