Most of the projects that were canceled were for vaccines that fight COVID-19 or the flu, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday. They include proposals from Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur and other drugmakers that were rejected or canceled, along with a now-shuttered award to Moderna to develop a bird flu vaccine, according to an HHS statement.
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RFK Jr cancels $500m in funding for mRNA vaccines
Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vaccine sceptic, announced he was pulling the funding over claims that “mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses”. Doctors and health experts have criticised Kennedy’s longstanding questioning of the safety and efficacy of vaccines and his views on health policies.
In a statement, Kennedy said his team had “reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted”. “[T]he data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu,” he said.
He said the department was shifting the funding toward “safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate”.Kennedy also claimed that mRNA vaccines can help “encourage new mutations and can actually prolong pandemics as the virus constantly mutates to escape the protective effects of the vaccine”. In total, the affected projects are worth “nearly $500 million”, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said. Certain late-stage projects were excluded from the move “to preserve prior taxpayer investment”.ALSO READ: Breast milk flavoured ice cream now available for sale in US: Where can you buy free scoop?
Health experts have said that viruses mutate regardless of whether vaccines exist for them.
The development of mRNA vaccines to target Covid-19 was critical in helping slow down the pandemic and saving millions of lives, said Peter Lurie, a former US Food and Drug Administration official.
He told the BBC that the change was the US “turning its back on one of the most promising tools to fight the next pandemic”. The move comes as Kennedy faces criticism from some of his supporters who are upset that the Food and Drug Administration has continued to approve mRNA vaccines. Though the agency has limited their use for some healthy children and required additional studies in other cases, some mRNA vaccines from Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc have been approved by the FDA to prevent COVID-19 infections.
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Kennedy said the agency was shifting funding toward other vaccine programs. The changes include the cancellation of an award to Moderna for a bird flu shot, the termination of a contract with Emory University, and changes in existing contracts with CSL Seqirus. Other changes affect deals or proposals involving Pfizer, Sanofi, and AstraZeneca Plc, according to the HHS statement.
In a statement, Moderna said it doesn’t currently have any active collaboration with BARDA. AstraZeneca declined to comment. The other companies didn’t immediately return requests for comment. vaccine critics, backing Kennedy, want the shots pulled off the market entirely.
