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U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled nearly $500 million in contracts and grants to develop mRNA vaccines, in a move that drew harsh criticism from supporters of the technology and lukewarm praise from critics who said existing mRNA vaccines should be pulled from the market.
“We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” Kennedy said in an announcement made late Tuesday. “The data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu. We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate.”
Twenty-two programs will be affected in the “coordinated wind-down” of mRNA development within the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
HHS said it canceled contracts with some research institutions, reduced the scope of others, rejected or canceled multiple research proposals, and restructured several U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) collaborations within the vaccine industry.
No new mRNA-based projects will be initiated, HHS said. However, some existing contracts will be allowed to run their course “to preserve prior taxpayer investment.” Other uses of mRNA technology within the department will remain in place.
Longtime critics of the technology who allege the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines were rushed to market without adequate safety testing welcomed the news.
“The mRNA vaccines have not been fit for purpose. Indeed, the overwhelming evidence suggests that they were injurious and deadly to millions, said Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense (CHD).
“CHD believes the COVID mRNA injections should be off the market, but we applaud this important step in the right direction,” Holland added.
Former pharmaceutical industry executive Sasha Latypova said the move was “a small symbolic step in the right direction.” She acknowledged that the canceled funds, which average $22 million per project, are significant sums for private investment.
However, the funds “are really small change compared to the billions of dollars in taxpayers’ funds that have been spent on Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and other mRNA medical countermeasures that DO remain on the market,” she said.
According to Latypova:
“Pfizer and Moderna alone received $10B+ each as initial grants, and subsequently, many more billions of dollars were spent for both development and government purchasing of these toxic, ineffective ‘medical countermeasures.’
“These products remain on the market, with new versions of mRNA still being approved by the current HHS administration without any placebo-controlled studies or long-term safety studies.”
Supporters warn of dangers ahead because of cuts
Mainstream media and the “vaccine experts” they quoted said the cuts would leave the U.S. unprepared for a new pandemic. The department is “undermining our ability to rapidly counter future biological threats,” said Rick Bright, former head of BARDA. Bright was forced out during the first Trump administration.
Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health, accused Kennedy of incorrectly claiming in a video posted on X that the mRNA vaccines don’t protect well against upper respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and flu.
“Had we not used these lifesaving mRNA vaccines to protect against severe illness, we would have had millions of more Covid deaths,” she told The New York Times.
Multiple news organizations asserted that the vaccines are “safe and effective” and have “saved millions of lives” — assertions that have been shown to lack any evidence.
Research shows mRNA vaccine efficacy has been substantially overstated. Several studies, including two large investigations by the Cleveland Clinic, showed the vaccine could not confer protection against COVID-19. Instead, those trials found that the more vaccines a person received, the more susceptible that person was to contracting COVID-19.
mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been linked to abnormal blood clotting and autoimmune disorders. In May, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered Pfizer and Moderna to add more detailed warnings to their product labels about the risk of heart damage.
Evidence also shows the COVID-19 vaccines were rushed through the regulatory process and never underwent adequate safety and toxicological testing. Since the vaccine rollout, researchers — including those at regulatory agencies — have identified a significant number of adverse events and serious adverse events, and linked the vaccines and other countermeasures to a global spike in excess deaths.
Holland said:
“Despite mainstream media’s attempt to suggest that the COVID vaccines ‘slowed the pandemic,’ the evidence strongly points the other way — that the shots against COVID were injurious, deadly and prolonged the pandemic by raising the risk of COVID infection and disease spread.”
A growing chorus of scientists and researchers, as well as members of the general public, have called for an end to the COVID-19 vaccines and the use of mRNA technology.
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Critics question BARDA’s entire mission
BARDA, which operates under HHS’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, develops and procures medical countermeasures to address public health emergencies, largely through collaboration with industry, academia and other government agencies, including the DOD.
Because the products BARDA develops are protective measures used during public health emergencies, they are excluded from the typical regulations that pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors or regulatory agencies are required to follow.
The COVID-19 vaccines, for example, were protected by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act or PREP Act, which shields “covered persons” — such as pharmaceutical companies, or the DOD/BARDA — from liability for injuries sustained from “countermeasures” such as vaccines and medications administered during a public health emergency.
Several researchers called for Kennedy to do more to address the broader issue of “pandemic preparedness.”
Bioweapons expert Dr. Meryl Nass welcomed the cancellation of the mRNA vaccine contracts, but said:
“What other ‘countermeasures’ is BARDA funding? Why not defund all the bird flu contracts? The monkeypox contracts? Why not look into whether BARDA’s dozens of billions of taxpayer dollars spent have yielded any useful products at all?
“BARDA was formed to provide funding to the biodefense industry for early development of drugs and vaccines for bioterrorism and pandemics. Is this where our money should be spent? What about ending [National Institutes of Health] funding for mRNA products?”
Nass said the “entire concept of pandemic preparedness” ought to be reexamined.
“Why don’t we admit that safe and effective vaccines simply cannot be developed fast enough to respond to bioterrorism or new pandemics? The idea that they can is simply a false claim that has never worked, and for which there is not even a theory to support it,” she said.
Latypova said mRNA countermeasures shouldn’t be on the market, given the announcement by HHS that they aren’t working. She said:
“When is HHS going to honestly disclose to the public, as they are obligated by the PREP Act, that all mRNA ‘vaccines’ on the market today are nothing but ‘medical military countermeasures’ regulated outside of the pharmaceutical law and devoid of any consumer safety protection?”
Substack writer Jon Fleetwood said canceling the contracts was “great,” but “they’ve only stopped some mRNA vaccine projects, and they’re going to allow others to continue,” including Acturus Therapeutics’ commercial mRNA vaccines and bird flu vaccines.
In April, the FDA fast-tracked Arcturus’ self-replicating mRNA flu vaccine. That contract wasn’t canceled.
Latypova said:
“Keeping these known dangerous and ineffective countermeasures on the market while removing those other 22 projects only creates a bigger monopoly position for Pfizer and Moderna, i.e., protects their commercial interests, while not doing anything to protect the public health and safety. The FDA continues to approve new versions of mRNA from ‘preferred’ companies while putting U.S. public at risk.”
Fleetwood said that leaves the door open to “the next pandemic” and its countermeasures.
Pediatrician and author Dr. Joel “Gator” Warsh noted that other uses of mRNA technology — for cancer, autoimmune disease research and rare genetic therapies — will continue under this new model.
“mRNA isn’t being abandoned, it’s being repositioned,” he said.
Related articles in The Defender
- Kennedy Hits Pause on COVID Vaccine Project Worth Hundreds of Millions
- HHS, NIH Launch $500 Million Project to Develop Universal Vaccines to Protect Against ‘Pandemic-Prone’ Viruses
- FDA Has Authority to Recall COVID Vaccines — A Growing Number of Scientists Are Demanding the Agency Take Swift Action
- Government Contracts With COVID Vaccine Makers Let Federal Agencies Bypass Normal Regulatory Process, FOIA Documents Show
