RFK Jr.’s vaccine moves mean Moderna has much to lose

Dwight Morrow was thrilled to land a job at Moderna in June 2023 after its blockbuster Covid-19 vaccine had turned the once-obscure Cambridge biotech into a household name.

Morrow, a molecular and cellular biologist, said he was among about 600 people hired by the company over two weeks during a period of explosive growth. As executive director of biological science, he led two-dozen scientists focused on the microscopic fatty spheres that Moderna used to deliver messenger RNA into human cells to produce vaccines and experimental drugs.

But after Moderna and the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer helped tame the pandemic with rival mRNA vaccines, both firms struggled to persuade people to get booster shots. Last December, with Moderna burning through cash and its second approved product, a shot for respiratory syncytial virus, generating disappointing sales, Morrow was laid off.