Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. #quack #pratt #dunning-kruger bbc.com
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to cancel $500m (£376m) in funding for mRNA vaccines being developed to counter viruses that cause diseases such as the flu and Covid-19
That will impact 22 projects being led by major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, for vaccines against bird flu and other viruses, HHS said
Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vaccine sceptic, announced he was pulling the funding over claims that "mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses"[…]
In a statement, Kennedy said his team had "reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted". "[T]he data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu," he said
He said the department was shifting the funding toward "safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate"
Kennedy also claimed that mRNA vaccines can help "encourage new mutations and can actually prolong pandemics as the virus constantly mutates to escape the protective effects of the vaccine"
Health experts have said that viruses mutate regardless of whether vaccines exist for them
This was true every year for the flu virus, for example, said Dr Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia[…]
Dr Offit, who invented the rotavirus vaccine, said the funding cancellation could put the US in a "more dangerous" position to respond to any potential future pandemic. He noted mRNA vaccines have a shorter development cycle, which is why they were crucial to responding to the Covid-19 pandemic