HHS scraps further work on life-saving mRNA vaccine platform

Andrew Pekosz, PhD, professor and vice chair at Johns Hopkins University, said on X that while mRNA vaccine technology isn’t perfect, “it’s a critical improvement over many existing vax platforms. This sets back vaccine science by a decade.”

Rather than mRNA vaccines, which Secretary Kennedy claimed collapse after a single mutation, he is turning to whole-virus vaccines, a long-discredited platform, Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said on X. 

“First, it’s unreliable bc [because] you never know what viruses will grow in eggs or cell lines,” he said. “You need a high titer [concentration] of virus. Second, two of our nation’s most troubling adverse vaccine reactions occurred using this approach.”

Hotez cited two examples of whole-virus vaccine failures: a 1960s formalin-inactivated RSV vaccine that resulted in 80% of child recipients being hospitalized for severe respiratory disease and two dying, and a 1976 swine flu vaccine associated with increased cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome.

“Why does he pick the least desirable technology?” Hotez asked.  

Scientists are skeptical of whole-virus vaccines for good reason, Osterholm explained: “That this is going to provide perfect protection is absolutely ridiculous,” he said. On the other hand, he noted, mRNA vaccines are backed by solid, publicly available evidence.

Move weakens national security

On X, Chris Meekins, former deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, said, “Ending BARDA’s investment in mRNA technology creates a national security vulnerability. These tools serve as a deterrent to prevent other nations from using certain biological agents. The speed of the technology to create new biodefense capabilities is a national security asset.”

In an HHS video released yesterday on Fox News, Kennedy said that after consulting with experts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), he decided to block further mRNA vaccine development because they “don’t perform well against viruses that infect the upper respiratory tract.”

Hotez said that Kennedy’s statement shows how “untethered from reality he has become.” On X, he wrote, “I doubt he listened to experts. It’s [the] rhetoric of wellness ideologues who deny the benefits of mRNA vaccine technology in saving 3.2 million American lives in the pandemic.”

Osterholm put it this way: “There was no factual basis to what he said yesterday. He comes across as an authority on vaccines, and he’s not.”

Jerome Adams, MD, former US surgeon general, said on X that he’s tried to remain “objective and non-alarmist in response to current HHS actions, “but quite frankly, this move is going to cost lives.”

A ‘fundamental misunderstanding of immunology’

Jake Scott, MD, an infectious disease physician and clinical associate professor at Stanford University, pointed out on X that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) own data show that 53 times more unvaccinated people than their vaccinated counterparts died of COVID-19 in 2021.