Latest news with #PaulOffit
CNN
3 days ago
- Health
- CNN
Cutting federal funds for mRNA vaccine leaves the US vulnerable, experts say
This week, President Donald Trump called Operation Warp Speed, a public-private federal program that helped speed up the development and distribution of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines in record time 'one of the most incredible things ever done in this country.' It was just a day after US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the federal government was canceling a half-billion dollars in investments into the same technology, saying no new mRNA projects will be initiated under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Vaccine and preparedness experts said the decision could be disastrous for the United States, rendering another Operation Warp Speed impossible in case of threat from disease or bioweapons. Kennedy, who has a long history of spreading vaccine misinformation, incorrectly suggested in his announcement that mRNA vaccine technology is ineffective, unsafe and unethical — comments that experts worry will put a chill on development even beyond the projects the government cut. Dr. Paul Offit joins The Lead In a statement about the cancellation, Kennedy said the decision was based on a review of science and expert opinions. 'Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,' Kennedy said in this week's announcement. 'That's why we're moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions.' Kennedy said funding will be shifted 'toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,' such as whole virus vaccines, which use a weakened or deactivated version of a virus to trigger immunity. China developed a whole virus Covid-19 vaccine, but studies showed it wasn't nearly as effective as the mRNA vaccines. 'I wonder why we want to try and go back to the way it was in the 1940s when we had vaccines, but it took a really long time to make them,' Dr. Cynthia Leifer, a professor of immunology at Cornell University said. She equates the abandonment of mRNA research at this point to partially paying for a kitchen remodel and stopping to save money after the walls have been demolished. 'You'd be out your money and you don't have a kitchen,' Leifer said. The mRNA vaccine platform is uniquely suited to protect a country during a pandemic, said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. Not knowing what will cause the next pandemic, she said, 'mRNA vaccines offer real flexibility that other vaccine approaches don't.' For a flu vaccine, for example, makers use eggs to grow the virus. It's a complicated process that may require several months to make enough, Nuzzo said. But mRNA vaccines can be developed much faster, sometimes even in days, and don't require time to grow virus cultures. When making an mRNA vaccine, scientists take messenger RNA, a single strand of the genetic code, that can teach cells how 'read' and make a protein that triggers an immune response. Dr. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, said the decision to 'wind down' the government's investment in mRNA vaccines is one of the worst public health decisions in decades, particularly for pandemic preparedness. Osterholm, who is the founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and author of the forthcoming book 'The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics,' said vaccines are a 'very, very small part of the pharmaceutical industry's portfolio' since there's not a lot of profit in vaccines. It's government money that drives companies to make them. Some mRNA projects are funded through other parts of the government, but Kennedy's announcement may undermine mRNA vaccines in general. 'The constant undercutting of support for vaccines is really a challenge. So the damage was twofold,' Osterholm said. 'If we had another pandemic today, we would have to watch large parts of the world not get vaccinated for several years and based on what's just happened, the United States would probably be at the end of the line, not the head of the line like it was in Covid.' Nuzzo said it's possible another pandemic may not happen during Trump's term, but the decision leaves the US vulnerable in another way: Retreat from investment in mRNA vaccines may even be seen as an opening for an attack. 'Defense posturing and defense preparation are the best form of deterrence for a biological attack,' she said.'It sends a bad signal to our adversaries about our commitments to protecting ourselves and our vulnerabilities to attack, let alone it stifles medical innovation.' Leaders in the Trump administration have pushed to bring drug manufacturing to the United States but experts say the choice to stop investing in mRNA vaccines will do the opposite. Dr. Katalin Karikó, who shared the Nobel prize in 2023 for her pioneering work on the mRNA vaccines, told CNN this week that she moved to the US from Hungary because America offered opportunities to develop innovative science. US scientists in the same position today will not see the same opportunities, she said, and they'll go where there's investment in their work. 'It is really the next generation that will suffer the most,' Karikó told CNN, Wednesday. 'When we have the next pandemic other countries will have to help us out.' CNNI's Christina MacFarlane and CNN's Betsy Klein contributed to this report
CNN
3 days ago
- Health
- CNN
Cutting federal funds for mRNA vaccine leaves the US vulnerable, experts say
This week, President Donald Trump called Operation Warp Speed, a public-private federal program that helped speed up the development and distribution of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines in record time 'one of the most incredible things ever done in this country.' It was just a day after US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the federal government was canceling a half-billion dollars in investments into the same technology, saying no new mRNA projects will be initiated under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Vaccine and preparedness experts said the decision could be disastrous for the United States, rendering another Operation Warp Speed impossible in case of threat from disease or bioweapons. Kennedy, who has a long history of spreading vaccine misinformation, incorrectly suggested in his announcement that mRNA vaccine technology is ineffective, unsafe and unethical — comments that experts worry will put a chill on development even beyond the projects the government cut. Dr. Paul Offit joins The Lead In a statement about the cancellation, Kennedy said the decision was based on a review of science and expert opinions. 'Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,' Kennedy said in this week's announcement. 'That's why we're moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions.' Kennedy said funding will be shifted 'toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,' such as whole virus vaccines, which use a weakened or deactivated version of a virus to trigger immunity. China developed a whole virus Covid-19 vaccine, but studies showed it wasn't nearly as effective as the mRNA vaccines. 'I wonder why we want to try and go back to the way it was in the 1940s when we had vaccines, but it took a really long time to make them,' Dr. Cynthia Leifer, a professor of immunology at Cornell University said. She equates the abandonment of mRNA research at this point to partially paying for a kitchen remodel and stopping to save money after the walls have been demolished. 'You'd be out your money and you don't have a kitchen,' Leifer said. The mRNA vaccine platform is uniquely suited to protect a country during a pandemic, said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. Not knowing what will cause the next pandemic, she said, 'mRNA vaccines offer real flexibility that other vaccine approaches don't.' For a flu vaccine, for example, makers use eggs to grow the virus. It's a complicated process that may require several months to make enough, Nuzzo said. But mRNA vaccines can be developed much faster, sometimes even in days, and don't require time to grow virus cultures. When making an mRNA vaccine, scientists take messenger RNA, a single strand of the genetic code, that can teach cells how 'read' and make a protein that triggers an immune response. Dr. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, said the decision to 'wind down' the government's investment in mRNA vaccines is one of the worst public health decisions in decades, particularly for pandemic preparedness. Osterholm, who is the founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and author of the forthcoming book 'The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics,' said vaccines are a 'very, very small part of the pharmaceutical industry's portfolio' since there's not a lot of profit in vaccines. It's government money that drives companies to make them. Some mRNA projects are funded through other parts of the government, but Kennedy's announcement may undermine mRNA vaccines in general. 'The constant undercutting of support for vaccines is really a challenge. So the damage was twofold,' Osterholm said. 'If we had another pandemic today, we would have to watch large parts of the world not get vaccinated for several years and based on what's just happened, the United States would probably be at the end of the line, not the head of the line like it was in Covid.' Nuzzo said it's possible another pandemic may not happen during Trump's term, but the decision leaves the US vulnerable in another way: Retreat from investment in mRNA vaccines may even be seen as an opening for an attack. 'Defense posturing and defense preparation are the best form of deterrence for a biological attack,' she said.'It sends a bad signal to our adversaries about our commitments to protecting ourselves and our vulnerabilities to attack, let alone it stifles medical innovation.' Leaders in the Trump administration have pushed to bring drug manufacturing to the United States but experts say the choice to stop investing in mRNA vaccines will do the opposite. Dr. Katalin Karikó, who shared the Nobel prize in 2023 for her pioneering work on the mRNA vaccines, told CNN this week that she moved to the US from Hungary because America offered opportunities to develop innovative science. US scientists in the same position today will not see the same opportunities, she said, and they'll go where there's investment in their work. 'It is really the next generation that will suffer the most,' Karikó told CNN, Wednesday. 'When we have the next pandemic other countries will have to help us out.' CNNI's Christina MacFarlane and CNN's Betsy Klein contributed to this report
CNN
3 days ago
- Health
- CNN
Cutting federal funds for mRNA vaccine leaves the US vulnerable, experts say
This week, President Donald Trump called Operation Warp Speed, a public-private federal program that helped speed up the development and distribution of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines in record time 'one of the most incredible things ever done in this country.' It was just a day after US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the federal government was canceling a half-billion dollars in investments into the same technology, saying no new mRNA projects will be initiated under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Vaccine and preparedness experts said the decision could be disastrous for the United States, rendering another Operation Warp Speed impossible in case of threat from disease or bioweapons. Kennedy, who has a long history of spreading vaccine misinformation, incorrectly suggested in his announcement that mRNA vaccine technology is ineffective, unsafe and unethical — comments that experts worry will put a chill on development even beyond the projects the government cut. Dr. Paul Offit joins The Lead In a statement about the cancellation, Kennedy said the decision was based on a review of science and expert opinions. 'Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,' Kennedy said in this week's announcement. 'That's why we're moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions.' Kennedy said funding will be shifted 'toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,' such as whole virus vaccines, which use a weakened or deactivated version of a virus to trigger immunity. China developed a whole virus Covid-19 vaccine, but studies showed it wasn't nearly as effective as the mRNA vaccines. 'I wonder why we want to try and go back to the way it was in the 1940s when we had vaccines, but it took a really long time to make them,' Dr. Cynthia Leifer, a professor of immunology at Cornell University said. She equates the abandonment of mRNA research at this point to partially paying for a kitchen remodel and stopping to save money after the walls have been demolished. 'You'd be out your money and you don't have a kitchen,' Leifer said. The mRNA vaccine platform is uniquely suited to protect a country during a pandemic, said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. Not knowing what will cause the next pandemic, she said, 'mRNA vaccines offer real flexibility that other vaccine approaches don't.' For a flu vaccine, for example, makers use eggs to grow the virus. It's a complicated process that may require several months to make enough, Nuzzo said. But mRNA vaccines can be developed much faster, sometimes even in days, and don't require time to grow virus cultures. When making an mRNA vaccine, scientists take messenger RNA, a single strand of the genetic code, that can teach cells how 'read' and make a protein that triggers an immune response. Dr. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, said the decision to 'wind down' the government's investment in mRNA vaccines is one of the worst public health decisions in decades, particularly for pandemic preparedness. Osterholm, who is the founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and author of the forthcoming book 'The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics,' said vaccines are a 'very, very small part of the pharmaceutical industry's portfolio' since there's not a lot of profit in vaccines. It's government money that drives companies to make them. Some mRNA projects are funded through other parts of the government, but Kennedy's announcement may undermine mRNA vaccines in general. 'The constant undercutting of support for vaccines is really a challenge. So the damage was twofold,' Osterholm said. 'If we had another pandemic today, we would have to watch large parts of the world not get vaccinated for several years and based on what's just happened, the United States would probably be at the end of the line, not the head of the line like it was in Covid.' Nuzzo said it's possible another pandemic may not happen during Trump's term, but the decision leaves the US vulnerable in another way: Retreat from investment in mRNA vaccines may even be seen as an opening for an attack. 'Defense posturing and defense preparation are the best form of deterrence for a biological attack,' she said.'It sends a bad signal to our adversaries about our commitments to protecting ourselves and our vulnerabilities to attack, let alone it stifles medical innovation.' Leaders in the Trump administration have pushed to bring drug manufacturing to the United States but experts say the choice to stop investing in mRNA vaccines will do the opposite. Dr. Katalin Karikó, who shared the Nobel prize in 2023 for her pioneering work on the mRNA vaccines, told CNN this week that she moved to the US from Hungary because America offered opportunities to develop innovative science. US scientists in the same position today will not see the same opportunities, she said, and they'll go where there's investment in their work. 'It is really the next generation that will suffer the most,' Karikó told CNN, Wednesday. 'When we have the next pandemic other countries will have to help us out.' CNNI's Christina MacFarlane and CNN's Betsy Klein contributed to this report
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
RFK Jr. cancels at least $500M in mRNA vaccine funding. What are the implications?
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced this week it is beginning a "coordinated wind-down" of federally funded mRNA vaccine development. This includes terminating awards and contracts with pharmaceutical companies and universities and canceling 22 investment projects worth nearly $500 million. While some final-stage contracts will be allowed to be completed, no new mRNA-based projects will be initiated, the HHS said. "We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted," Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a press release on Tuesday. "The data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu. We're shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate." MORE: What we know about the safety, efficacy of mRNA vaccines amid recent scrutiny Infectious disease experts told ABC News that mRNA technology has been very successful in preventing severe disease, hospitalization and deaths, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially affecting our preparedness for future pandemics. Ending mRNA vaccine development may also squash enthusiasm for technology that has been hailed as a potential promise for cancer and HIV vaccines. "It's an excellent technology. It saved millions of lives and did it in a remarkably safe manner," Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC News. "I think it's an unscientific move, a move that goes against existing science." Affecting future pandemic preparedness Last year, the federal government awarded Moderna $176 million to help expedite the development of an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine. Earlier this year, the vaccine manufacturer received an additional $590 million to speed up the development. However, in its press release, the HHS said it was cancelling the award, which has been issued by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, to Moderna and the University of Texas Medical Branch. Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor of pediatrics and molecular virology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told ABC News the wind-down is a blow to pandemic preparedness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mRNA technology demonstrated its ability to scale up vaccine production quickly. "The message to the companies will clearly be that they can no longer rely on the U.S. government for supporting any mRNA vaccine work, which is unfortunate, or even tragic, because the mRNA platform is one of the few that we have for pandemic threats in terms of something that we can make a vaccine for very quickly," he said. "So what, what Mr. Kennedy's and HHS' actions are doing is weakening our pandemic preparedness and weakening our biosecurity." The HHS also said it was terminating contracts with Emory University and Tiba Biotech. Researchers had been working on using mRNA technology to develop a nasal influenza vaccine. Emory has also been working on a dry powder inhaled mRNA-based treatment for influenza and COVID with TFF Pharmaceuticals, funded by BARDA. It's unclear if this is one of the 22 contracts that have been canceled. MORE: What to know about the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines Hotez said COVID-19 and influenza can have very severe consequences and that it's incorrect for Kennedy to mischaracterize them as harmless upper respiratory infections. "COVID and flu are not [only] upper respiratory infections," he said. "The reason we develop vaccines for COVID and flu is because they cause systemic illness and lower respiratory infections and cardiovascular illness. … This is part of the anti-vaccine playbook, to diminish the severity of the illness, and to say something like influenza or COVID is an upper respiratory infection, it's just very, very misleading." Cancer vaccines, HIV treatments mRNA technology has also been hailed as a potential vector for providing personalized cancer treatments and protection against HIV transmission. In February, a small preliminary study published in the journal Nature found a personalized mRNA vaccine may reduce the risks of pancreatic cancer returning after surgery. Additionally, a University of Florida study found an experimental mRNA vaccine paired with anticancer drugs boosted an anti-tumor response. Meanwhile, earlier this month, an early-stage clinical trial found two mRNA vaccine candidates triggered a strong immune response against HIV. Results from the trial showed that 80% of participants who received one of two vaccine candidates produced antibodies. Although antiretroviral therapy has been the standard treatment for HIV infection, and is effective in preventing transmission, it is hard to scale up worldwide due to its costs, making mRNA vaccines to be anti-HIV vaccine strategy, researchers from the U.S., Germany and Romania wrote in a commentary in June 2022. It's unclear if any of the BARDA contracts are specifically for cancer vaccines or HIV vaccine development, but Hotez said the real damage is denigrating mRNA technology. "What he's done is he's caused uncertainty among the American people about the safety and effectiveness of mRNA for any condition, including cancer," he said. "And in fact, mRNA technology is probably the most exciting technology we have now for cancer and also other non-communicable illnesses. … Even though he may not be canceling any cancer vaccine contracts through BARDA, it may have collateral deleterious in terms of squashing enthusiasm for the technology." Offit added that mRNA is not brand-new technology. mRNA was discovered independently by two teams in 1961, including French and American molecular biologists. Breakthroughs in developing mRNA vaccines began in the early 2000s, eventually leading to the development of COVID-19 vaccines in 2020. This makes the technology primed for being used in other avenues, such as cancer vaccines, Offit said. "We now know a lot about mRNA," he said. "We know a lot about its safety. We know a lot about its safety in young children, including babies. We know a lot about it regarding gene therapy. We know a lot about this safety in terms of pregnant people, where that's often not the case with new technology." Offit went on, "So you have this background of information that enables you to move forward in a number of areas, involving babies or involving pregnant women. But there was an attempt by this administration to squelch that, to sit on all that for no good reason other than a political reason." Solve the daily Crossword
4 days ago
- Health
RFK Jr. cancels at least $500M in mRNA vaccine funding. What are the implications?
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced this week it is beginning a "coordinated wind-down" of federally funded mRNA vaccine development. This includes terminating awards and contracts with pharmaceutical companies and universities and canceling 22 investment projects worth nearly $500 million. While some final-stage contracts will be allowed to be completed, no new mRNA-based projects will be initiated, the HHS said. "We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted," Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a press release on Tuesday. "The data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu. We're shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate." Infectious disease experts told ABC News that mRNA technology has been very successful in preventing severe disease, hospitalization and deaths, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially affecting our preparedness for future pandemics. Ending mRNA vaccine development may also squash enthusiasm for technology that has been hailed as a potential promise for cancer and HIV vaccines. "It's an excellent technology. It saved millions of lives and did it in a remarkably safe manner," Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC News. "I think it's an unscientific move, a move that goes against existing science." Affecting future pandemic preparedness Last year, the federal government awarded Moderna $176 million to help expedite the development of an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine. Earlier this year, the vaccine manufacturer received an additional $590 million to speed up the development. However, in its press release, the HHS said it was cancelling the award, which has been issued by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, to Moderna and the University of Texas Medical Branch. Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor of pediatrics and molecular virology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told ABC News the wind-down is a blow to pandemic preparedness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mRNA technology demonstrated its ability to scale up vaccine production quickly. "The message to the companies will clearly be that they can no longer rely on the U.S. government for supporting any mRNA vaccine work, which is unfortunate, or even tragic, because the mRNA platform is one of the few that we have for pandemic threats in terms of something that we can make a vaccine for very quickly," he said. "So what, what Mr. Kennedy's and HHS' actions are doing is weakening our pandemic preparedness and weakening our biosecurity." The HHS also said it was terminating contracts with Emory University and Tiba Biotech. Researchers had been working on using mRNA technology to develop a nasal influenza vaccine. Emory has also been working on a dry powder inhaled mRNA-based treatment for influenza and COVID with TFF Pharmaceuticals, funded by BARDA. It's unclear if this is one of the 22 contracts that have been canceled. Hotez said COVID-19 and influenza can have very severe consequences and that it's incorrect for Kennedy to mischaracterize them as harmless upper respiratory infections. "COVID and flu are not [only] upper respiratory infections," he said. "The reason we develop vaccines for COVID and flu is because they cause systemic illness and lower respiratory infections and cardiovascular illness. … This is part of the anti-vaccine playbook, to diminish the severity of the illness, and to say something like influenza or COVID is an upper respiratory infection, it's just very, very misleading." Cancer vaccines, HIV treatments mRNA technology has also been hailed as a potential vector for providing personalized cancer treatments and protection against HIV transmission. In February, a small preliminary study published in the journal Nature found a personalized mRNA vaccine may reduce the risks of pancreatic cancer returning after surgery. Additionally, a University of Florida study found an experimental mRNA vaccine paired with anticancer drugs boosted an anti-tumor response. Meanwhile, earlier this month, an early-stage clinical trial found two mRNA vaccine candidates triggered a strong immune response against HIV. Results from the trial showed that 80% of participants who received one of two vaccine candidates produced antibodies. Although antiretroviral therapy has been the standard treatment for HIV infection, and is effective in preventing transmission, it is hard to scale up worldwide due to its costs, making mRNA vaccines to be anti-HIV vaccine strategy, researchers from the U.S., Germany and Romania wrote in a commentary in June 2022. It's unclear if any of the BARDA contracts are specifically for cancer vaccines or HIV vaccine development, but Hotez said the real damage is denigrating mRNA technology. "What he's done is he's caused uncertainty among the American people about the safety and effectiveness of mRNA for any condition, including cancer," he said. "And in fact, mRNA technology is probably the most exciting technology we have now for cancer and also other non-communicable illnesses. … Even though he may not be canceling any cancer vaccine contracts through BARDA, it may have collateral deleterious in terms of squashing enthusiasm for the technology." Offit added that mRNA is not brand-new technology. mRNA was discovered independently by two teams in 1961, including French and American molecular biologists. Breakthroughs in developing mRNA vaccines began in the early 2000s, eventually leading to the development of COVID-19 vaccines in 2020. This makes the technology primed for being used in other avenues, such as cancer vaccines, Offit said. "We now know a lot about mRNA," he said. "We know a lot about its safety. We know a lot about its safety in young children, including babies. We know a lot about it regarding gene therapy. We know a lot about this safety in terms of pregnant people, where that's often not the case with new technology." Offit went on, "So you have this background of information that enables you to move forward in a number of areas, involving babies or involving pregnant women. But there was an attempt by this administration to squelch that, to sit on all that for no good reason other than a political reason."
