The U.S. Health and Human Services has “abolized” mRNA vaccine development and will instead fund other vaccine platforms through the Bureau of Advanced Biomedical Research and Development, the agency said Tuesday.
HHS Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement that Bada will end its investment in 22 mRNA vaccine development, saying the vaccine “cannot effectively protect against upper respiratory tract infections such as COVID and the flu.” HHS said some final stage contracts will continue, but “new mRNA-based projects will not be launched.”
“We reviewed science, listened to experts and acted,” Kennedy said.
“Today, Barda will focus on a platform with stronger safety records and transparent clinical and manufacturing data practices,” HHS said. “Technology funded during the emergency phase but failed to meet current scientific standards will be phased out in favor of evidence-based, ethically-based solutions, such as whole-virus vaccines and new platforms.”
Messenger RNA is a single strand of genetic codes that allow cells to “read” and make proteins. With Covid vaccines, mRNA instructs cells in the body to make specific portions of the viral spike protein. When the immune system sees it, it recognizes it as a foreign body and is ready to attack when there is an actual infection.
The vaccine was particularly useful as it could be developed and manufactured quickly during the Covid-19 pandemic. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have shown that mRNA vaccines that emerged under the speed of operation during the first Trump administration have repeatedly demonstrated that they are highly effective and extremely safe in preventing severe illnesses.
Kennedy, who has a long history of anti-vaccine claims and has previously said he has evaluated the mRNA project. In May, HHS also ended its $590 million contract with Modern to develop a vaccine to protect against avian flu.
Dr. Peter Hotez, a pediatrician who directs the vaccine development center at Texas Children’s Hospital, said the HHS announcement on Tuesday would “promote their pseudo-science agenda and undermine the biosecurity of our country.”
“Like all biotechnology, mRNA technology has its advantages and disadvantages, but in a pandemic situation with new, previously unknown pathogens, or in the case of cancer vaccines and immunotherapy, it has clear advantages,” Hotez said. “HHS Under Kennedy, he says that even if he seeks biomedical innovation, he should no longer look to the federal government. The state is on its own. ”
HHS said it has cancelled Barda’s award to Moderna/UTMB for the mRNA vaccine for H5N1, known as the avian flu. We have also terminated our agreements with Emory University and Tiba Biotech. According to Barda’s website, Emory is working on an inhalable dry powder mRNA antiviral platform, while Tiva is working on a platform that uses nanoparticle carrier technology. HHS also said it was a “scope removal” mRNA-related work in its contract with Luminary Labs, Model and Sequirus.
HHS also said it has refused or cancelled solicitations for multiple previous awards on proposals from Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur, CSL Schorus and Gritstone. It also restructured collaboration with the US Department of Defense to impact nucleic acid-based vaccine projects with AAHI, Astrazeneca and HDT Bio.
HHS said the affected projects were worth around $500 million. “Other uses of mRNA technology within the department will not be affected by this announcement.”
In a statement, Modanya spokesman Kelly Cunningham said: “We are not aware of the cancellation of new contracts by Bada, involving Modanya. As previously announced in May, the pandemic flu contract has been cancelled and there are currently no active collaborations with Bada.”
A Gritstone spokesman said the company had halted its operations “as a while ago.”
AstraZeneca declined to comment.
CNN responded to Tiba Biotech, Emory, Ffizer, Modelex, Luminary Labs, CSL Seqirus and Sanofi.
Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and external vaccine advisor to the FDA, criticized Kennedy for making “policy decisions that contradict scientific data.”
“He says things like mRNA vaccines are unnecessary risk,” Offit said. “That’s wrong. It’s actually very safe and effective.”
“A decision based on a false statement and cutting all this funding is only difficult to see,” Offit added.
If another pandemic comes “we’re just behind eight balls again” and without additional research into mRNA vaccines. “It puts us in unnecessary risks and puts us in for no good reason, and for just a few bad reasons,” Offit said.
Dr. Jake Scott, a California infectious disease doctor, has worked many times for a long time to treat patients during the Covid-19 pandemic, and although he lost several patients early in the pandemic, the mRNA vaccine has brought about a major change by protecting billions of people safely from serious illnesses and death.
Scott, clinical associate professor of infectious diseases at Stanford Medicine, said:
When he heard that HHS was trying to eliminate investment in mRNA vaccines, Scott said he was “really depressing.”
“This hits differently. It makes me sad. It’s kind of heartbreaking,” Scott said.
