5 days ago
US Health Secretary RFK Jr halts funding for vaccines to fight Covid-19 and flu
THE US DEPARTMENT of Health and Human Services is to cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines that are being developed to fight respiratory viruses like Covid-19 and the flu.
Robert F Kennedy Jr announced that 22 projects, totalling $500m (€432m), to develop vaccines using mRNA technology will be halted. This is despite infectious disease experts deeming the vaccines safe and effective.
'We're shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,' Kennedy said in a statement. 'Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them.
'That's why we're moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions.'
Kennedy's decision to terminate the projects is the latest in a string of decisions that have put the long-time vaccine critic's doubts about jabs into full effect at the nation's health department.
Since taking office, Kennedy, who spent two decades sowing misinformation around immunisation, has overseen a major overhaul of US health policy – firing, for example, a panel of vaccine experts that advise the government and replacing them with his own appointees.
In its first meeting, the new panel promptly voted to ban a longstanding vaccine preservative targeted by the anti-vaccine movement, despite its strong safety record.
He has also ordered a sweeping new study on the long-debunked link between vaccines and autism.
Last month, he told a meeting of the Vaccine Alliance Gavi that
the US would be pulling funding from the organisation indefinitely
until the global health organisation has 're-earned the public trust'.
Though in development for decades, mRNA vaccines were propelled from lab benches to widespread use through US President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed – a public-private partnership led by BARDA that poured billions into companies to accelerate development.
The technology's pioneers, Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, were awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work contributing 'to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.
RFK criticised mRNA vaccines in a video on his social media accounts, explaining the decision to cancel projects being led by the nation's leading pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, that offer protection against viruses like the flu, Covid-19 and H5N1.
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'To replace the troubled mRNA programs, we're prioritising the development of safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don't collapse when viruses mutate,' Kennedy said in the video.
'Dangerous decision'
Infectious disease experts say the mRNA technology used in vaccines is safe, and they credit its development during the first Trump administration with slowing the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Future pandemics will be harder to stop without the help of mRNA.
'I don't think I've seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business,' said Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations.
He noted mRNA technology offers potential advantages of rapid production, crucial in the event of a new pandemic that requires a new vaccine.
The shelving of the mRNA projects is short-sighted as concerns about a bird flu pandemic continue to loom, said Dr Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
'It's certainly saved millions of lives,' Offit said of the existing mRNA vaccines.
Scientists are using mRNA for more than infectious disease vaccines, with researchers around the world exploring its use for cancer immunotherapies. At the White House earlier this year, billionaire tech entrepreneur Larry Ellison praised mRNA for its potential to treat cancer.
Traditionally, vaccines have required growing pieces of viruses, often in chicken eggs or giant vats of cells, then purifying that material.
The mRNA approach starts with a snippet of genetic code that carries instructions for making proteins. Scientists pick the protein to target, inject that blueprint and the body makes just enough to trigger immune protection — producing its own vaccine dose.
In a statement yesterday, the health department said 'other uses of mRNA technology within the department are not impacted by this announcement'.
The mRNA technology is used in approved Covid-19 and RSV jabs, but has not yet been approved for a flu jab.
Moderna, which was studying a combination Covid-19 and flu mRNA vaccines, had said it believed mRNA could speed up production of flu jabs compared with traditional vaccines.
The abandoned mRNA projects signal a 'shift in vaccine development priorities', the health department said in its statement, adding that it will start 'investing in better solutions'.
Additional reporting by AFP
