The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced that he will cancel contracts and subsidies for a value of almost 500 million dollars for the development of HRNM vaccines, since the critic of vaccines for a long time has repeatedly questioned the safety and efficacy of injections, despite the rejection of scientists.
Key data
In a statement on Tuesday night, the Department of Health and Human Services described the measure as a “coordinated discontinuation of its HRNM vaccine development activities under the Advanced Biomedic Research and Development Authority (BARDA)”.
The agency said the decision was made after making an “thorough review” of investments related to the RNAm made during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kennedy said Barda will rule out 22 investments in the development of RNM vaccines, claiming that the data shows that “these vaccines do not effectively protect against infections of the upper respiratory tract such as the COVID and the flu.”
Kennedy also said that HHS will divert this financing towards “safer and more broad vaccine platforms that remain effective even when mutan viruses”, without offering details.
The well -known vaccines also insisted that HHS “support safe and effective vaccines for all Americans who want them.”
Main critics
In an X publication, the immunologist and former header director, Rick Bright, wrote: “Bard invested in RNM technology precisely because he could deliver safe and scalable vaccines in record time, a capacity proven during the COVID. By dismantling that platform, we are paralyzing our first -line defense, just ahead of unknown biological threats.” Chris Meekins, who served as Deputy Secretary of Pandemics preparation in HHS during the first Trump administration, also criticized the measure and tweeted: “End the investment of fence in Arnm technology creates a vulnerability of national security. These tools serve as a deterrence to prevent other nations from using certain biological agents. The speed of technology to create new biodefense capacities is a national security asset ”. The epidemiologist Mike Osterholm, who serves as director of the Infectious Diseases Research and Policy Center of the University of Minnesota, told Associated Press: “I do not think I have seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business.”
What important contracts and subsidies have been affected?
In total, the measure affects 22 contracts and subsidies, including the award of fence to modern and the medical branch of the University of Texas to develop an RNM vaccine against the H5N1 avian flu virus. Financing for the Emory and Tiba Biotech University, which worked in an inhalable antiviral treatment in DRNM -based Dry Powder, was also eliminated as part of the measure. The HHS also rejects the multiple requests prior to the award of Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur and other entities within the framework of the fast -response association association vehicle, created to quickly develop treatments against pandemic flu and other emerging infectious diseases.
What did Kennedy say about the vaccines against MRNA and COVID-19?
Kennedy, who has been skeptical of vaccines for a long time, has ruled repeatedly against RNM vaccines despite the opposition of public health experts. In a 2023 podcast interview, Kennedy said without evidence: “There is no safe and effective vaccine.” The Secretary of Health has also repeatedly promoted the idea, already denied, that vaccines can cause autism. In 2021, Kennedy falsely said that vaccines against COVID-19 were “the most lethal vaccine ever made.”
This article was originally published by Forbes Us.
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