RFK Jr. Shifts $500 Million From mRNA Research to 'Safer' Vaccines. Do the Data Back That Up?
The Health and Human Services secretary once again stands athwart biomedical progress yelling, "Stop!"
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.
The clinical trial roundly contradicts RFK Jr.'s claim that mRNA vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections, especially in comparison to old-fashioned flu vaccines. And, you know, flu viruses mutate every year.
What about broad platforms? A simple Google Scholar search for mRNA vaccine trials for infectious diseases turns up over 10,000 results for just 2025 alone. But let's just take a look at a comprehensive new review of promising vaccine formulations for emerging infectious diseases. In that study, a team of Korean researchers compares the pros and cons of different vaccine production platforms, including whole-organism-based, live-attenuated, subunit, virus vector-based immunity, and nucleic acid-based (DNA and RNA) vaccines.
The researchers' analysis concludes that "mRNA vaccine formulations offer significant advantages, such as rapid development and production, over other vaccine platforms." They also note that it is "necessary to develop an analysis system that can verify the effectiveness and safety of the mRNA vaccine, as well as the development process of the vaccine itself." Just what the now-cancelled BARDA mRNA vaccine contracts could have helped to figure out.
In their new systematic review of mRNA vaccine clinical trials for infectious diseases other than COVID-19, two British researchers reported that their analysis "provides evidence to support the idea that mRNA vaccine technology will shape the future of preventive medicine and have a significant impact on global public health."
These vaccines might indeed have a significant impact on mitigating the spread of infectious diseases, if RFK Jr. would just stop standing athwart biomedical progress yelling, "Stop."
