RFK JR. cancels $ 500 million in funding for the development of vaccines, targeting mRNA

The American Ministry of Health and Social Services will cancel contracts and keep the funding of certain vaccines that are developed to combat respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Tuesday in a statement that 22 projects, totaling $ 500 million, to develop vaccines using mRNA technology will be interrupted.

Kennedy’s decision to terminate projects is the last in a chain that has seen the long -standing agenda for the criticism of scientific criteria in the country’s health department. Kennedy withdrawn recommendations around COVVI-19 shots, drawn the panel that makes vaccine recommendations and refused to provide vigorous approval of vaccinations as an epidemic of measles has worsened.

The Secretary of Health has criticized mRNA vaccines in a video on his social media accounts, explaining the decision to cancel projects led by the country’s main pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, which offer protection against viruses such as flu, COVID-19 and H5N1.

“To replace mRNA programs in difficulty, we deprive the development of safer and wider vaccine strategies, such as whole virus vaccines and new platforms that do not collapse when viruses mutate,” Kennedy said in video.

Infectious disease experts say that the mRNA technology used in vaccines is safe and that they attribute its development during the first Trump administration by slowing down the pandemic of the 2020 coronavirus. The future pandemics, they warned, will be more difficult to stop without the help of mRNA.

“Dangerous decision”

“I do not think I have seen a more dangerous decision in public health during my 50 years in the company,” said Mike Osterholm, expert at the University of Minnesota on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations.

He noted that technology offers potential advantages of rapid, crucial production in the event of a new pandemic which requires a new vaccine.

The shelves of mRNA projects are short -sighted, because the concerns about a pandemic of bird flu continues to loom, said Dr. Paul Offer, expert in vaccination at the Philadelphia children’s hospital.

“He has certainly saved millions of lives,” said offering existing mRNA vaccines.

Scientists use mRNA for more than infectious disease vaccines, researchers from around the world exploring its use for immunotherapy against cancer. At the White House earlier this year, the billionaire technology entrepreneur Larry Ellison congratulated mRNA for his cancer treatment potential.

Traditionally, vaccines required pieces of growth virus, often in chicken eggs or giant cells of cells, then purifying this material. The approach of the mRNA begins with an extract of genetic code which carries instructions for the manufacture of proteins. Scientists choose the protein to target, inject this plan and the body in fact just enough to trigger immune protection – producing its own dose of vaccine.

In a statement on Tuesday, HHS said that “other uses of mRNA technology within the department are not affected by this announcement”.

Abandoned mRNA projects report a “change in vaccine development priorities,” said the Department of Health in its declaration, adding that it will start “to invest in better solutions”. No details have been provided on what these other technologies could be.