Trump once hailed mRNA vaccines as a ‘medical miracle.' Now RFK Jr. is halting advancement
Now, his health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is effectively halting the vaccine technology's advancement. Kennedy announced Tuesday that the federal government is canceling $500 million worth of mRNA research development contracts, putting an end to U.S.-backed hopes for the vaccine technology to prevent future pandemics, treat cancer or prevent flu infections.
It's a sharp pivot from how Trump and top officials described the technology during his first term.
Here's a look at what Trump and some of his closest advisers have said about mRNA vaccines that were credited with slowing the pandemic five years ago.
Robert Redfield, Trump's director of the Center's for Disease Control
'A COVID-19 vaccine is the thing that will get Americans back to normal everyday life,' said Redfield, in a Sept. 16, 2020 statement.
Americans were still donning face masks as one of the few ways of protecting themselves from a virus that had killed nearly 200,000 in just over six months. Redfield promised that the new vaccines — developed for the first time using mRNA technology — would offer a return to normalcy.
Trump wanted to make sure Biden didn't get credit
'Don't let Joe Biden take credit for the vaccines … because the vaccines were me, and I pushed people harder than they've ever been pushed before .. The vaccines are — there are those that say it's one of the greatest things. It's a medical miracle.' Trump said on Nov. 26, 2020 said during a news conference in the White House.
Weeks earlier, Trump had lost the election in a bitter race against Democrat Joe Biden. As the Republican grappled with leaving Washington and continued to plan for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, he reminded reporters that he oversaw the development of the new shots.
'They say it's somewhat of a miracle and I think that's true,' Trump said on Dec. 8, 2020 during a speech at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
The event celebrated 'Operation Warp Speed,' the government-funded project that accelerated vaccine development with pharmaceutical companies. Trump was promoting the shots as the government prepared to offer them to frontline health workers.
Trump's first-term health secretary, Alex Azar
'It's clear that many Americans are learning these vaccines are safe and extraordinarily effective,' Azar said on Dec. 16, 2020 at a news conference.
The government was shipping out mRNA vaccines to states, preparing to distributed it to the masses. Azar noted that a vast majority of Americans — between 70% to 80%, according to polls — intended to get the new COVID-19 vaccine that would be available to the public in the coming months.
Gen. Gusave Perna, Trump's chief operating officer for pandemic response
'It takes somewhere between five and 10 years to put a vaccine on the street. Look what we did. Now, that's because of the great work of the scientists who had done the research on mRNA vaccines and others because of industry working on this, they just didn't wake up one day and start working on it,' Perna said during a podcast interview that aired on May 9, 2023.
Reflecting in an interview about his time overseeing 'Operation Warp Speed,' Perna credited the mRNA technology with the government's ability to get shots in arms mere months after the pandemic started claiming lives in the U.S. in 2020.
Monday Mornings
The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week.
Trump supporters boo his vaccine accomplishments
'Take credit because we saved tens of millions of lives. Take credit. Don't let them take that away from you,' Trump said on Dec. 19, 2021 during a live interview with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.
Daily COVID-19 deaths had ticked down to 1,500 compared to 3,000 from a year earlier after Americans began receiving their first doses of the mRNA vaccines.
Trump revealed to O'Reilly and the audience that he had just gotten a COVID-19 booster.
The crowd booed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Edmonton Journal
9 minutes ago
- Edmonton Journal
‘He's not waiting until 2026': Trump likely to reopen CUSMA trade pact in the fall, Doug Ford warns
Article content OTTAWA — Ontario Premier Doug Ford is warning that U.S. President Donald Trump could choose to suddenly 'pull the carpet out from underneath us' by opening up the trade agreement his administration negotiated with Canada during his first term. Article content He said Ottawa needs to prepare for that to happen this fall. Article content Article content Ford made the comments after the country's premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney met in private for the first time since Trump escalated his trade war by hitting Canada with a baseline 35 per cent tariff last week. Article content Article content The new tariff, which took effect on Friday after the two countries failed to hit an Aug. 1 deadline to secure a new trade agreement, applies only to goods not covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico agreement on free trade, better known as CUSMA. Article content Article content 'He's not waiting until 2026. At any given time, President Trump — not that he even follows the rules — he can pull the carpet out from underneath us on CUSMA tomorrow with one signature,' Ford told reporters at Queen's Park in Toronto Wednesday afternoon as he called for swift action to bolster the economy. Article content 'So let's be prepared. I think it'll be coming in November. He's going to come at us with double barrels, so we better be ready and throw everything and the kitchen sink at this.' Article content Ontario is at odds with Saskatchewan over Canada's response to the escalating trade war. Ford has called for immediate retaliation, while Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is urging Ottawa to dial down its retaliatory tariffs. Article content Article content 'Maybe it's time for Canada even to at least not add additional counter-tariffs in this space, but to even consider removing some of the counter-tariffs that are harmful to Canadian businesses and Saskatchewan businesses today,' Moe said during a radio interview earlier Wednesday, adding the country is currently largely 'protected' under the CUSMA trade pact. Article content Article content Ahead of the meeting with Carney, Ford said he's frustrated by the impacts of high U.S. tariffs on his province's economy and called again for retaliatory tariffs. Article content 'You can't have tariffs on one side and not the other. I still stand by what I say — dollar for dollar, tariff for tariff. They understand strength, not weakness, and we should never, ever roll over and be weak,' Ford told reporters at a news conference Wednesday in Thornhill, Ont. Article content Ford said he told Carney and the premiers that if Ottawa chooses not to hike tariffs in its response, the threshold at which steel products become subject to tariffs should be lowered.
Toronto Star
9 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Restoration of torn-down Confederate monument will cost $10 million over 2 years, military says
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Restoring a memorial to the Confederacy that was removed from Arlington National Cemetery at the recommendation of Congress will cost roughly $10 million total, a U.S. Army official said Wednesday — the latest development in a Trump administration effort to combat what it calls 'erasing American history.' Once back in the cemetery, the monument — described a few years ago as 'problematic from top to bottom' — will also feature panels nearby that will offer context about its history, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity about a project still in progress.
Toronto Star
9 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
North Carolina Gov. Stein signs stopgap budget bill but vetoes tax credit helping school choice
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein signed into law on Wednesday a stopgap spending measure while lawmakers remain in a state budget impasse. But he vetoed legislation that would direct state participation in a yet-implemented federal tax credit program to boost school-choice options, suggesting state Republicans acted hastily. The Democratic governor signaled this week he would sign the 'mini-budget' that the GOP-controlled General Assembly sent him last week. But he called it a poor substitution for a full two-year budget that House and Senate negotiators were unable to finalize before the new fiscal year began July 1.
