Thursday, August 7, 2025

Expert reaction to RFK Jr cancelling $500m of funding for mRNA vaccines

Scientists comment on Robert F. Kennedy Jr cancelling funding for mRNA vaccines.

Prof Adam Finn, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Bristol, said:

“mRNA vaccines are one of several important vaccine platforms available to us to combat future pandemics and develop new vaccines against existing infectious diseases against which we either have no vaccines or vaccines which could be improved. 

“They were used with vast success in the recent COVID19 pandemic. 

“They have the singular advantage that they can be designed and manufactured at scale extremely rapidly – making them very suitable to tackle new infections or rapidly mutating and evolving pathogens. 

“However much remains to be learned and understood about how best to design and use this platform to maximize its effectiveness and its safety, so that investment in further research is vital. 

“While mRNA vaccines are not the only type of vaccines we need and should use, we definitely should not be turned our back on them, given what we already know about them and given that we know beyond doubt that another pandemic is coming – sometime.”

Prof Peter Openshaw, Professor of Experimental Medicine, Imperial College London, said: “mRNA vaccine technology was vital during the COVID pandemic, leading to dramatic declines in mortality and saving many lives. A reliable analysis by Airfinity [1] of the lives saved by vaccines between the 8th of December 2020 and the 8th of December 2021 estimated that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine prevented about 6 million deaths, and the Moderna vaccine about 1.7m deaths.  This is an extraordinary achievement for vaccines that were developed at speed in the face of the pandemic.

“Vaccines were one of the main reasons that mortality from COVID declined; in Switzerland, [example 2] , the death rate of 13.82 per 100,000 people fell to 0.67 per 100,000 in those who were fully vaccinated.  The impact of vaccines in beyond question and confirmed by countless independent and meticulous studies [example 3].  By late 2021, intensive care admissions for COVID were virtually confined to those who had not been vaccinated (ICNARC data). mRNA vaccination also reduced the risk of Lond COVID by about 50% [4].

“Some of what RFK Jr reportedly said is technically correct but does not recognize the vast positive impact of RNA vaccines. It is true that immunity can drive mutations, but this is true of both post-infection and vaccine-induced immunity. Vaccine-induced immunity is especially important in protecting from serious disease and death, while post-infection immunity may also drive immune evasion by a slightly longer period of nasal and upper respiratory protection. Prevention of serious disease is the most important goal of vaccination (see John Burn-Murdoch’s post [5]).

“It is irrational and harmful to cut funds in this vital field of research and development. It would not be surprising if US investigators and companies developing vaccines look elsewhere to work, invest and build. I hope the UK can recognize the importance of supporting vaccine development and can provide a safe haven for those considering leaving the USA because of changes in policy and funding.”

-Science Media Center

1 – https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/07/07/covid-19-vaccines-saved-an-estimated-20m-lives-during-their-first-year

2 – https://ourworldindata.org/covid-deaths-by-vaccination

3 – https://x.com/PaulMainwood/status/1452607646570323970

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/selfreportedlongcovidaftertwodosesofacoronaviruscovid19vaccineintheuk/26january2022

5 – https://x.com/jburnmurdoch/status/141

 

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