RFK JR. cancels $ 500 million in RTNM R&D contracts while HHS focuses on older and slower vaccination technologies

The American Department of Health and Social Services puts contracts to Messenger RNA Vaccine Research at the end, the last decision of the current administration against technology that led to the successful development of COVVI-19 vaccines based on mRNA.

The decision announced Tuesday evening covers 22 MRNA vaccine contracts funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the agency that supports the development of medical countermeasures relating to health threats, such as pandemics. The canceled contracts – awarded to entities such as Moderna, Pfizer, Astrazeneca, CSL Seqirus and Emory University – represent nearly $ 500 million in Barda funding.

In the announcement, HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said the data show that mRNA vaccines are not effectively protecting against the higher respiratory infections of COVID-19 and influenza. He added that funding will move to “safer and wider vaccine platforms that remain effective as viruses are ripening. Kennedy, who made “radical transparency” a mantra for the department, provided no evidence of his claims.

The terminated contracts remove a technology particularly well suited to the provision of a faster pandemic response. With mRNA vaccines, mRNA provides instructions from a person’s own protein manufacturing machine to make the antigen that causes an immune response. Once the target pathogen has been sequenced, mRNA can be designed and produced to remedy it. When a mute virus, mRNA vaccines offer the possibility of adapting to changes.

COVVI-19 vaccines based on mRNA technology have received an emergency authorization, and then approval of the FDA on the basis of clinical trials showing both safety and efficiency. A mRNA vaccine offers faster return times than old vaccine methods, such as using chicken eggs as a means of cultivating a virus. This virus is then weakened or killed, so it cannot cause illness but can always cause an immune response. Vaccines made by cultivating a virus in cell culture are faster than egg vaccines, but always takes several months.

Kennedy said that in the future, Barda will focus on vaccine platforms with “stronger safety files and clinical data and transparent manufacturing practices”. He did not offer any details on the security risks which, according to him, are associated with mRNA vaccines. But he said that technologies financed during the pandemic emergency phase, but which do not meet current scientific standards will be removed in favor of other solutions, such as entire virus vaccines (which can be produced by the cultivation methods of eggs and cells).

Kennedy had a long experience of anti-vaccine activity before taking the highest post in HHS. In its new position, Kennedy’s HHS reported its skepticism of mRNA vaccines in May, when the agency canceled a federal contract supporting Moderna clinical tests of a vaccine against mRNA for avian flu. The initial contract awarded just over a year ago provided $ 176 million in federal funding. In January, before President Trump took office, HHS increased the Moderna contract to $ 590 million. Moderna has advanced this vaccine, the code name RNA-1018, thanks to phase 1/2 tests and was preparing to move on to phase 3 tests.

In June, Kennedy dismissed the entire advisory committee for vaccination practices, the organization that makes vaccine recommendations to centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Without evidence, Kennedy said that committee members were a “rubber stamp” for the pharmaceutical industry. Kennedy replaced the members of the committee with eight selections selected, some of which have made critical statements of COVVI-19 vaccines and mRNA technology. In the announcement of the HHS, Kennedy said that the layoffs of the Barda mRNA contracts concerned security – without proposing evidence of security risks.

“Let me be absolutely clear: HHS takes care of safe and effective vaccines for each American who wants them,” said Kennedy. “This is why we are going beyond the limits of mRNA and invest in better solutions.”

In an article in the social media platform X, the president of the American Medical Association, Bobby Mukkamala, spoke concerned about HHS plans to put an end to investments in mRNA vaccines.

“COVVI-19 vaccines using mRNA technology have helped save countless lives during the pandemic,” he said. “We urge the administration to continue vital research to improve mRNA vaccines, not to throw the baby with bath water by effectively preventing the search from moving forward.”

Photo: Eric Lee / Bloomberg, via Getty Images