The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is terminating contracts for messenger RNA vaccine research, the latest move by the current administration against technology that led to the successful development of mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines.
The decision announced late Tuesday covers 22 mRNA vaccine contracts funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the agency that supports development of medical countermeasures addressing health threats, such as pandemics. The canceled contracts — awarded to entities including Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, CSL Seqirus, and Emory University — represent nearly $500 million in BARDA funding.
In the announcement, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said data show that mRNA vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections from Covid-19 and influenza. He added that the funding will shift toward “safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective as viruses mutate. Kennedy, who has made “radical transparency” a mantra for the department, provided no evidence for his claims.
The terminated contracts remove a technology particularly well-suited to providing a faster pandemic response. With mRNA vaccines, the mRNA provides the instructions for a person’s own protein-making machinery to make the antigen that prompts an immune response. Once the target pathogen has been sequenced, mRNA can be designed and produced to address it. When a virus mutates, mRNA vaccines offer the ability to adjust to the mutations.
Covid-19 vaccines based on mRNA technology received emergency use authorization and then FDA approval based on clinical trial data showing both safety and efficacy. An mRNA vaccine offers faster turn-around times than older vaccine methods, such as using chicken eggs as the medium for growing a virus. That virus is then weakened or killed, so it cannot cause illness but can still prompt an immune response. Vaccines made by growing a virus in cell culture is faster than egg-based vaccines, but still takes several months.
Kennedy said going forward, BARDA will focus on vaccine platforms with “stronger safety records and transparent clinical and manufacturing data practices.” He offered no details on the safety risks he believes are associated with mRNA vaccines. But he said technologies funded during the emergency phase of the pandemic but failed to meet current scientific standards will be phased out in favor of other solutions, such as whole-virus vaccines (which can be produced by egg and cell culture methods).
Kennedy had a long track record of anti-vaccine activity prior to taking the top post at HHS. In his new position, Kennedy’s HHS signaled its skepticism of mRNA vaccines in May, when the agency canceled a federal contract supporting Moderna’s clinical testing of an mRNA vaccine for avian influenza. The initial contract awarded a little more than a year ago provided $176 million in federal funding. In January, prior to President Trump taking office, HHS expanded the Moderna contract to $590 million. Moderna has advanced this vaccine, code-named mRNA-1018, through Phase 1/2 testing and was preparing to advance to Phase 3 testing.
In June, Kennedy fired the entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the body that makes vaccine recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Without evidence, Kennedy claimed the committee members were a “rubber stamp” for the pharmaceutical industry. Kennedy replaced the committee members with eight hand-picked selections, some of whom have made statements critical of Covid-19 vaccines and mRNA technology. In the HHS announcement, Kennedy said the terminations of the BARDA mRNA contracts was about safety — without offering evidence of safety risks.
“Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,” Kennedy said. “That’s why we’re moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions.”
In a post to the social media platform X, American Medical Association President Bobby Mukkamala expressed concern about the HHS plans to terminate investment in mRNA vaccines.
“Covid-19 vaccines using mRNA technology helped saved countless lives during the pandemic,” he said. “We urge the Administration to continue vital research to improve mRNA vaccines, not throw the baby out with the bathwater by effectively preventing research from moving forward.”
Photo: Eric Lee/Bloomberg, via Getty Images
