US Health Department Pulls Back on Funding mRNA Vaccine Research [View all]
Source: Bloomberg
August 5, 2025 at 6:04 PM EDT
The US Department of Health and Human Services is ending contracts to develop vaccines using messenger RNA technology, another step in the agencys changing practices toward vaccines under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The agency is terminating 22 contracts worth almost $500 million, according to a statement Tuesday.
The move comes as Kennedy faces criticism from some of his supporters who are upset that the Food and Drug Administration has continued to approve mRNA vaccines. Though the agency has limited their use for some healthy children and required additional studies in other cases, some vaccine critics backing Kennedy want the shots pulled off the market entirely.
HHS described the move as a coordinated wind-down of mRNA vaccine projects under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA. Kennedy asserted that the vaccine projects being discontinued fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-05/us-health-department-pulls-back-on-funding-mrna-vaccine-research
No paywall (gift)
Link to HHS
PRESS RELEASE -
HHS Winds Down mRNA Vaccine Development Under BARDA
Secretary Kennedy
@SecKennedy
·
Follow
We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted. 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. Were shifting that funding toward Show more
5:55 PM · Aug 5, 2025
You didn't listen to any "experts". You listened to the quacks.