Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has canceled $500 million in vaccine development after “listening to the experts.”
HHS announced Tuesday it would start winding down its vaccine development projects that use mRNA technology by canceling contracts and pulling funding for some vaccines that are being developed to fight respiratory viruses such as COVID-19 and the flu.
“We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, said in a statement.
He said the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which oversees the vaccine development projects, “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.”
The projects are being led by some of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Moderna to prevent flu, COVID-19 and H5N1 infections.
The mRNA vaccines are credited with slowing the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
“Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them. That’s why we’re moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions,” Kennedy said, without providing details on what those technologies might be.
Shortly after President Donald Trump was elected to his second term Kennedy vowed not to take away anyone’s vaccines.
“If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away. People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information,” he told NBC News in November 2024.
During his Senate confirmation hearings, Kennedy reiterated that he didn’t want to take vaccines away, but rather wants to make sure Americans are properly informed about them, Politico reported in late January.
“News reports have claimed that I’m anti-vaccine or anti-industry,” he said. “I am neither.”
The Independent has reached out to HHS for comment.
Kennedy has previously purported claims that vaccines are dangerous, notably falsely claiming childhood vaccines are linked to autism, despite this association being widely debunked.
