Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has launched yet another scientifically unjustified attack on promising vaccine research by canceling mRNA vaccine research contracts sponsored by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
"We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted," said Kennedy in a press release. "BARDA is terminating 22 mRNA vaccine development investments because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu. We're shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate." In other words, RFK Jr. plans to spend the $500 million from the canceled BARDA contracts on these allegedly safer and broader vaccine platforms.
Really? Consider that in June, vaccine manufacturer Moderna reported the results of a clinical trial pitting its mRNA influenza vaccine against both high-dose and standard-dose licensed seasonal influenza vaccines. The conventional vaccines used inactivated flu viruses to induce an immune response. Moderna's mRNA-1010 achieved a relative vaccine efficacy against influenza illness of 26.6 percent in the trial. That means that the mRNA-1010 group had 26.6 percent fewer influenza cases than the group that got the standard-dose flu shot. For example, if the standard flu vaccine group had 100 cases per 1,000 people, the mRNA-1010 group would have had about 73–74 cases per 1,000.
