Pfizer CEO goes to war with RFK Jr over mRNA vaccines amid cancer link

They are two of the biggest rivals in the world of pharma. 

But the CEO of drug giant Pfizer has sprung to Moderna’s defense following the Trump administration’s decision to cut its funding for the development of a bird flu vaccine. 

The company was told that the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) had withdrawn a $766million grant awarded by the Biden administration to pay for development and purchase of its experimental shot. 

The HHS said an investigation found the project did not meet the scientific standards or safety expectations required for continued federal investment, but there is a sense  that it is part of the new health secretary RFK Jr’s push towards an anti-vaccine agenda.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has slammed this decision and at a conference on Friday, he said that Moderna’s new vaccine, called mRNA-1018, is ‘extremely well tested [and] the science is proven.’

Referencing the fact that there have been around 1.5 billion mRNA vaccine shots against Covid-19 administered worldwide from his company alone, Bourla said they were ‘probably the most utilized vaccine[s] in the history of humanity’.

And if vaccination rates decline, it ‘will not take a long time’ for diseases to return

Using the technology pioneered during the Covid pandemic, mRNA-based vaccines have been tested as cancer treatments, with some promising early results. 

In one research paper out of Penn State College of Medicine, the scientists note: ‘mRNA vaccines are an attractive and powerful immunotherapeutic platform against cancer because of their high potency, specificity, versatility, rapid and large-scale development capability, low-cost manufacturing potential, and safety.’  

Bourla says that Pfizer – which does not rely on government funding, with most of its cash from sales and partnerships – will continue its investment into vaccines. 

HHS boss Robert F. Kennedy Jr has expressed deep skepticism regarding jabs, including the Covid shots — despite real-world evidence they saved millions of lives. 

Bourla says that the issue with this and other changes to US health agency policies is that they are ‘not based on any scientific data…. It’s just based on a belief.’

Despite fiction between the government and the drug companies over vaccines, Bourla says there are ‘several topics’ in the medical sphere that they do agree upon – with cancer being one of these. 

‘We are working to address those things as we agree to disagree on the things that divide us,’ Bourla added on the subject.

The mRNA bird flu vaccine is based on the same technology as Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid vaccines.

The vaccine contains mRNA, which acts like a set of instructions for the body. Cells read the mRNA and temporarily produce a harmless piece of the bird flu virus like a decoy.

The immune system recognizes this protein as a threat and builds defenses against it. If a person is later exposed to bird flu, their immune system is already trained to fight it off.

Researchers tested the vaccine on mice and ferrets and observed a strong immune response in the animals. 

It was hoped it would produce similar successful results in the late stage trial, which is now on hold. 

RFK Jr’s move to cut Moderna’s vaccine funding comes despite growing concerns about the H5N1 bird flu strain that is tearing through poultry and dairy farms in the US

At least 70 people in the US have been sickened and one person died.  

Scientists fear that continued mutation of the virus could allow it to become more virulent or more easily spread in people, with the possibility that it could trigger a pandemic.

Moderna received $176 million in July 2024 and was due to receive an extra $590m after the package was approved in January under Biden.

The January award would have supported a late-stage clinical trial that could have determined the vaccine’s efficacy against pandemic viruses, including bird flu.

The shot had already been tested in 300 healthy adults to gauge its safety.

A Moderna spokesman said at the time: ‘While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in this interim analysis.’

It’s uncertain whether Moderna will continue developing its bird flu vaccine without government funding.

Meanwhile, Pfizer recently made a breakthrough with one of its drugs called Braftovi.

While the prescription medicine is traditionally used to treat adults with skin cancer in combination with another drug, in a clinical trial, it was also found to double the length of time patients with an aggressive form of colorectal cancer lived with treatment.

Researchers found cancer patients lived for an average of 30 months on the drug compared with 15.

Bourla highlighted this as a ‘very, very important finding,’ especially as colorectal cancer numbers, ‘particularly among younger people, are skyrocketing right now.’