Robert F Kennedy Jr, the head of the American health department
Zuma Press, Inc./alamy
The United States Secretary of Health said that mRNA vaccines were ineffective against respiratory diseases, while announcing that he was reducing half a billion dollars of funding for the development of mRNA vaccines. But this goes against the scientific evidence that we have, which show that many mRNA vaccines work as well as – or better than – other types of vaccine. Here is what you need to know to assess these claims.
By announcing the cups, the head of the US Health and Social Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, said that “these vaccines do not effectively protect against higher respiratory infections like Covid and the flu”. Kennedy said the agency would move funding “to safer and wider vaccine platforms that remain effective even if viruses mutate”.
There is now a wide range of types of vaccines: living viruses, killed viruses, genetically modified viral shells, unique viral proteins and mRNA coding for viral proteins. The effectiveness of all these types of vaccines often has much more to do with the nature of the targeted virus than the vaccine itself.
For example, the ROR vaccine can be 100% effective to prevent measles epidemics if more than approximately 90% of a population is vaccinated. But the measles virus is an easy target because it does not change much and it takes a convoluted path to the bottom of the body, which means that there are many opportunities for the immune system to intercept it before people develop symptoms or become infectious.
On the other hand, the respiratory viruses which cause colds and the flus infects first the cells which line the nose and the throat. It is difficult to generate high levels of effective antibodies in these membranes, so it is much more difficult to prevent infections and transmission to measles than with measles.
In addition, cold, flu and COVIR-19 viruses constantly lift, and there is a strong evolutionary selection for all mutations that help a virus to dodge immune protection generated by infections or vaccinations. For this reason, no flu or COVI-19 vaccine of any type provides the same life protection as the component of the measles of the ROR vaccine. But mRNAs work relatively well.
For example, some COVVI-19 mRNM vaccines were more than 90% effective against symptomatic infections, with even higher protection against serious illnesses. For comparison, the efficiency of non -mRNA vaccines used to protect from the annual flu varies from 20 to 60%. And in a recent trial, a combined vaccine of river COVVI -Flu rimped in vaccines against the non -mRNA influenza existing in people over 50 – those who need protection most.
Kennedy’s demand for a lack of efficiency is therefore nonsense. This does not mean that mRNA vaccines are always better than other types. But the new vaccines must surpass the oldest in the tests – the mRNA shots will not be approved if they are not better.
Kennedy also claims that other types of vaccines are more likely to remain effective as viruses mutate. This seems to be a reference to the development of “universal vaccines” – a single vaccine that is effective against all flu viruses, for example, or that works against all coronavirus. The idea is to target the external parts of viruses that do not change. But this is difficult to do because viruses tend to hide their immutable pieces under the changing rooms.
Efforts to develop effective universal vaccines have so far failed, despite decades of effort, so it could be an error. In addition, mRNA technology can and has already been used to create experimental universal vaccines. The second part of Kennedy’s declaration is therefore also a nonsense.
Finally and above all, efficiency is not everything. The security, cost and speed of vaccine development are also crucial. Here, mRNA technology has enormous advantages. It is safer than vaccines made up of real viruses, cheaper than vaccines made up of a single viral protein and can be developed much faster than one or the other type – which is important with rapid development viruses, especially in a pandemic situation.
In addition, mRNA vaccine technology could be used more widely to develop a wide range of other treatments. The financing reductions announced by Kennedy on the basis of his false complaint could slow down development by dissuading companies from investing in this approach.
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