mRNA vaccine stopped COVID and could help fight cancer, HIV, bird flu, and other plagues except Bobby Junior just pulled the plug on research.
In his announcement, Kennedy said that he was canceling $500
million worth of research aimed at using mRNA technology to develop new
vaccines. Instead, he said the Department of Health and Human Services would
prioritize "the development of safer, broader vaccine strategies, like
whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don’t collapse when viruses
mutate."
mRNA technology is the basis for major vaccines that were developed earlier this decade to protect against Covid-19. A 2022 study referenced on the National Institutes of Health's website estimates that Covid-19 vaccines prevented 14.4 million deaths in their first year of availability.
Given the success of these vaccines, many medical experts
expressed shock and horror at Kennedy's decision to pull the plug on funding
further research.
"I don't think I've seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business," Mike Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, told The Associated Press in an interview. Osterholm also emphasized that mRNA vaccines allow for rapid production, which he said was a critical factor in combating pandemics.
"RFK Jr. is systematically turning the USA from the
leader in science to an ideologically anti-scientific backwater of quackery and
pseudoscience," he added.
"It will take years to come back from it."
Mike White, an associate professor of genetics at Washington
University in St. Louis, said that Kennedy's decision would put the U.S. at a
disadvantage in future medical research developments.
"Completely insane decision to walk away from one of
the most promising medical technologies, allowing the U.S. to get smoked in
this area of biotech by other countries with more foresight," he commented on
X.
Alastair McAlpine, a pediatric infectious diseases
physician, described Kennedy's actions to shut down mRNA research as
"insanity" given that "no other technology promises to provide
as much protection against an array of diseases." As a result, he wrote on Bluesky, "never has America been more
vulnerable."
Biomedical scientist Lucky Tran, who currently serves as the
director of science communication and media relations at Columbia University,
took stock of all of Kennedy's actions and concluded that they fit in with a
broader anti-vaccine agenda that is not just limited to mRNA vaccines.
"At his confirmation hearing, RFK Jr. claimed he
wouldn't take away vaccines," he wrote on
Bluesky. "So far he has: Removed Covid vaccine recommendation; fired the
CDC's vaccine committee; replaced scientists with antivaxxers; cancelled
vaccine hesitancy research; pulled $500 million in mRNA vaccine research."
Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at
George Washington University, similarly warned that it was unlikely that
Kennedy would be satisfied solely with cutting off funding for mRNA vaccines.
"RFK Jr. simply doesn't believe in vaccines and he has the power to take them away from the American public," he wrote. "This is just the beginning."
EDITOR'S NOTE: here is a list of articles on mRNA vaccine technology from the pages of Progressive Charlestown. All have been published Since January.
Promising anti-cancer based on mRNA technology many MAGA Republicans want to ban
https://www.progressive-charlestown.com/2025/07/pancreatic-cancer-vaccines-eliminate.html
Multi-antiviral: https://www.progressive-charlestown.com/2025/06/new-mrna-vaccine-is-more-effective-and.html
New
Antibody Therapy Shows Promise Against All COVID Variants – And the Future Ones
Too
Clinical
trials for nasal COVID vaccine to begin
COVID/SARS COVID vaccine saved millions of lives AND billions of dollars
HIV: https://www.progressive-charlestown.com/2025/06/devastating-nih-cancels-future-funding.html HIV
vaccine study uncovers powerful new antibody target
HHS
cancels funding for Moderna’s candidate H5 avian flu and pandemic vaccines
Scientists
Say NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub mRNA References on Grants
Cuts to science research funding cut American lives short
MRNA Vaccines, Once a Trump Boast, Now Face Attacks From Some in GOP
