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2w ago

HHS Redirects $500 Million From mRNA Projects to Traditional Vaccine Platforms

Experts caution that cutting mRNA funding could jeopardize future rapid-response capacity

Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams is pictured testifying during a hearing in Washington, D.C., about the coronavirus crisis in 2021.
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Overview

  • The Department of Health and Human Services has shifted approximately $500 million from 22 BARDA-funded mRNA vaccine projects to whole-virus and other non-mRNA platforms.
  • Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned that halting mRNA research could cost lives after the technology saved an estimated two million people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Investigators continue to probe the Aug. 8 shooting at CDC headquarters in Atlanta by 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White, who killed officer David Rose and may have been motivated by anti-vaccine beliefs.
  • Adams criticized Secretary Kennedy for issuing a "tepid" response 18 hours after the CDC shooting and for past rhetoric describing the agency as a "cesspool."
  • Public health figures caution that the funding shift could cede U.S. biomedical leadership abroad and stall future vaccine innovations.