Funding Fallout

IN JUNE, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel that creates recommendations for safe and effective vaccination standards. His chosen replacements include ideological allies who have been outspoken skeptics of vaccine safety.

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In August, Kennedy announced the cancellation of roughly $500 million in federal funding for the development of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines for respiratory viruses, claiming that “mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits.” A month later he testified during a Senate hearing that he believed mRNA vaccines cause widespread serious harm, including death.

The data show otherwise. People who received mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 were significantly less likely to go to the ER, be hospitalized or die because of the illness; experts say severe side effects of these vaccines are very rare. The fact is mRNA COVID vaccines saved millions of lives, and their use in hundreds of millions has repeatedly demonstrated their safety.

Not only could Kennedy’s campaign against mRNA research deter people from getting updated COVID vaccines, but it is also stunting the development of new mRNA technology for other diseases and disorders.