The US Health Department announced this week that they would wind-down support and funding for the development and research into mRNA vaccines. This wind-down will impact 22 projects worth half a billion US dollars, and no new mRNA projects will be funded.
The US Secretary of Health, Robert F Kennedy Jr, claimed mRNA vaccines don’t provide effective protection against upper respiratory tract infections and said that funding would be shifted towards “safer, broader vaccine platforms”.
Professor Kjesten Wiig, Co-director of the RNA Development Platform and Director of the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in New Zealand told the New Zealand Science Media Centre that the decision “represents a new low for the American medical and scientific community, one that risks undermining decades of progress in public health and infectious disease preparedness”.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, mRNA vaccines played a critical role in allowing society to return to normal, according to Professor Christopher Chiu from the Imperial College London.
“Hundreds of millions of people received mRNA vaccines during the pandemic with no major ill effects, dramatically reducing the risk of severe COVID-19, hospitalisation and death,” he said.
Prof Chiu criticised the statement that mRNA vaccines fail to protect against common respiratory symptoms.
“It is misleading to single out mRNA vaccines for promoting mutations and failing to protect against common cold-like symptoms; this is true for all respiratory virus vaccines that are given by injection and can stimulate a protective immune response,” he told the UK Science Media Centre.
Dr David Elliman, Honorary Associate Professor from the Imperial College London echoed Prof Chiu’s statements that the US Secretary of Health’s objections to mRNA vaccines are not supported by reliable evidence.
“The evidence to support this should be made public, so that it can be examined by experts in the field who have not been picked because of their anti-vaccine views,” he said.
Looking closer to home, Professor Wiig suggests that the gap in research that will be created by these cuts could present an opportunity for other countries to step up.
“RNA is a proven, safe and transformative technology. Its potential extends well beyond the pandemic. In the absence of US leadership, there is an unprecedented opportunity for countries like New Zealand to step up to ensure this breakthrough science continues to benefit people globally”, she said.
You can read the SMC NZ's full expert reaction here.
And you can read the UK SMC's full expert reaction here.
This article originally appeared in Science Deadline, a weekly newsletter from the AusSMC. You are free to republish this story, in full, with appropriate credit.
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