ROBERT F. KENNEDY CUTS $500 MILLION IN MRNA VACCINE DEVELOPMENT FUNDS
Health experts slam action as irresponsible, putting Americans’ health at risk
By G. A. McNeeley
Photo: mRNA vacines help prevent diseases such as COVID-19; cc via Bing
August 17, 2025 (Washington D.C.) -- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, recently announced that the government would cancel at least $500 million of federally funded mRNA vaccine development, which could potentially affect the United States’ preparedness for future pandemics. It also stands to crush enthusiasm for technology that has been seen as a potential promise for cancer vaccines, HIV vaccines, and more, according to ABC News.
Kennedy also pulled back recommendations around the COVID-19 shots, fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, and refused to offer a vigorous endorsement of vaccinations even as a measles outbreak worsened, according to NPR.
These types of vaccines use messenger RNA, or mRNA, to prompt the body to make proteins that induce an antibody response to protect against a pathogen. The science behind it is being studied for a wide range of uses (in addition to COVID-19 vaccines), from fighting cancer to treating autoimmune conditions and more, according to CBS News.
What Has The Trump Administration Said About mRNA Technology?
Kennedy was already expressing vaccine-skeptic views before becoming health secretary. In May 2021, he filed a citizen petition asking for the federal government to revoke its authorization of all COVID-19 vaccines.
In December 2021, during a Louisiana House of Representatives meeting discussing a proposal to require children in schools to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Kennedy falsely said it was the "deadliest vaccine ever made,” according to ABC News.
In a press release announcing the cancellation of mRNA vaccine funding, Kennedy said funding was going towards "safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate," according to ABC News. However, infectious disease experts and vaccinologists have said the mRNA platform is safe.
When asked about the cancellation of funding, Trump praised Operation Warp Speed (a public-private partnership from 2020 that helped distribute COVID-19 vaccines), but said it was "a long time ago, and we're onto other things" and that the administration is "looking for other answers to other problems, to other sicknesses and diseases,” according to ABC News.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya is making the case that mRNA vaccine technology is “promising, but not yet ready for prime time,” according to POLITICO.
Bhattacharya weighed in on Kennedy’s decision in a conversation on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, saying that “the reason that he did that — and I think it’s very important for people to understand — as far as public health goes for vaccines, the mRNA platform is no longer viable,” according to POLITICO.
“You can’t have a platform where such a large fraction of the population distrusts the platform, if you’re going to use it for vaccines, and expect it to work,” Bhattacharya added.
Kennedy offered an explanation for the funding cuts that contradicts Bhattacharya’s reasoning, saying that “after reviewing the science and consulting top experts at NIH and FDA, HHS has determined that mRNA technology poses more risk than benefits for these respiratory viruses,” in a video posted on X, referring to COVID-19 and flu mRNA vaccines.
However, the HHS has said that "other uses of mRNA technology within the department are not impacted by this announcement,” in a press release.
“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, in that same press release.
On Tuesday, August 5, at a news conference in Anchorage, Alaska, Kennedy said that a "universal vaccine" that mimics "natural immunity" is the administration's focus. "It could be effective -- we believe it's going to be effective -- against not only coronaviruses, but also flu," Kennedy said, according to NPR.
What Have The Experts Said About mRNA Technology?
Public health experts have said that the position that Kennedy and those in his circle have recently taken on mRNA vaccines is different from how the technology was viewed within The Trump Administration during Trump’s first term, according to ABC News.
“What we have now is a situation where the Trump administration is backing away from mRNA technology," Dr. Richard Besser, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told ABC News. "It is totally out of line with what the president was saying during his first term, and it flies in the face of what science and evidence have demonstrated."
Dr. Craig Spencer, an associate professor of the practice of health services, policy and practice at Brown University School of Public Health, said it seems strange that Operation Warp Speed no longer gets the praise it once received during Trump's first term.
"I find it so remarkable that really the biggest accomplishment of the end of Trump's first term in office … namely the creation of Operation Warp Speed in the mRNA vaccines is something that this administration truly never talks about," Spencer told ABC News.
Infectious disease experts say the mRNA technology used in vaccines is safe, and they even credited its development during Trump’s first administration with slowing the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, but warned future pandemics will be harder to stop without the help of mRNA, according to NPR.
Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations, said "I don't think I've seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business," according to NPR.
Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said "It's certainly saved millions of lives," when referring to the existing mRNA vaccines, according to NPR.
What Else Can mRNA Technology Be Used For?
Health experts have criticized the move to defund this research, pointing to the impact it will have on America's ability to develop breakthroughs against deadly or debilitating diseases.
Former Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, who served in the first Trump administration, said the technology "helps us develop vaccines and new treatments," and warned that cuts could halt progress in one of the "most promising areas of modern medicine,” according to CBS News.
Jeff Coller, professor of RNA biology and therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University, called the cuts a "completely reckless decision from Robert F. Kennedy Jr." that was "clearly being made for political motivations and not those that are rested in our science,” according to CBS News.
A small NIH-funded clinical trial by Sloan Kettering in 2023 used infusions of an mRNA vaccine to help boost T cells in the immune system of pancreatic cancer patients. The results, published in the journal Nature, showed improvements among about 50% of participants. The early results encouraged scientists, but the small sample size called for further studies, which led to a Phase 2 trial published in Nature earlier this year.
"It was, in essence, the start of a cure for pancreatic cancer, where half of the patients in that study were surviving," Coller said, according to CBS News.
Experimental mRNA-focused treatments have also showed promise in fighting lung, colorectal and gastric cancers. For example, a study published online in the journal Gastric Cancer found a mRNA-based vaccine led to robust gastric tumor regression in mice.
Autoimmune diseases are another area of research, treating multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and celiac disease.
Like with COVID-19, there has also been continued research on mRNA-based vaccines for infectious diseases like the flu, RSV, Zika virus and cytomegalovirus (known as CMV), which is an infection that can be harmful to babies exposed during the mother's pregnancy, according to CBS News.
"We're at a point where, if we continue to develop this technology, we'll get more personalized, bespoke medicine that we can use on patients and improve health care outcomes," Coller said, according to CBS News.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/05/nx-s1-5493550/rfk-jr-funding-mrna-vaccine-development
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mrna-vaccine-defunding-cancer-treatment-rfk-jr/
https://x.com/SecKennedy/status/1952851097019633766
https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-winds-down-mrna-development-under-barda.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06063-y
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08508-4
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39115419/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11919954/
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1094199
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10120-025-01640-8