We have as the head of Health and Human Services a man who loves drinking and swimming in disease-infested fluids, nearly wiped out Samoa with his anti-vaxx dingbat propaganda, and, let it never be forgotten, has a dead worm in his so-called brain. The Republican committee chairman who oversaw RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearing is a doctor, and still let RFK through. Ever since then, Secretary Brain Worm has been busy gutting the personnel of all our health agencies, dismantling the advisory committees that determine which vaccines to develop for the coming season, maligning people with autism, and ushering the US towards the worst measles outbreak this century. But there’s no rest for the wearisome; on Tuesday, RFK announced he was canceling 22 contracts worth about $500 million related to mRNA vaccines. The projects had previously been funded by HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Actual experts, of which RFK is not, are calling the cuts dangerous.
It’s like our fire departments were just disbanded: “This isn’t just about vaccines,” Rick Bright, who directed BARDA from 2016 to 2020, said in a text message. “It’s about whether we’ll be ready when the next crisis hits. Cutting mRNA development now puts every American at greater risk. The Covid pandemic showed us what’s possible when science moves fast,” he added. “Dismantling that momentum now is like disbanding the fire department because the fire’s out.”
RFK croaks about mRNA: “After reviewing the science and consulting top experts at NIH and FDA, HHS has determined that mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses,” Kennedy said in a video announcement on X. “Let me be absolutely clear, HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,” he added. “That’s why we’re moving beyond the limitations of mRNA for respiratory viruses and investing in better solutions.”
A fact check by Moderna: HHS said in its initial press release on Tuesday that BARDA was terminating an award to the University of Texas Medical Branch and the biotechnology company Moderna to develop an mRNA-based vaccine for H5N1, the strain of bird flu that has infected dozens of people in the United States. But a Moderna spokesperson said on Wednesday the contract was canceled in May. HHS has since amended its press release to say that it is “restructuring” collaborations that affect Moderna’s research on nucleic acid-based vaccines.
RFK doesn’t understand how mRNA works at all: “That’s exactly why mRNA is so valuable: It’s the only platform where you can actually update the vaccine really quickly,” said Dr. Jake Scott, an infectious disease specialist at Stanford Medicine. Terminating mRNA contracts under BARDA is “a very misguided, irresponsible and I would say reckless move,” Scott said. “It really does reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of how vaccines work and how a vaccine against a respiratory virus in particular should be expected to work.”
Back to old technology: Kennedy said Tuesday that the BARDA funding would be shifted “toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,” such as whole-virus vaccines, which use weakened or deactivated versions of viruses to trigger immune responses. Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said whole-virus vaccines have been around since the late 1800s, noting that “we make safer, better vaccines” today due to technological advances. The slashing of mRNA contracts is “yet another policy decision engineered by our Secretary of Health and Human Services that is not science-based,” Offit said. “That’s a dangerous thing to do.”
[From NBC News]
You guys, the sycophants running HHS’s comms can’t even keep track of their misdeeds in their press releases. HHS: “We’re terminating Moderna’s mRNA bird flu vaccine!” Moderna: “You did that three months ago.” I know it’s not the worst crime HHS is committing here, but it’s killing me nonetheless. RFK has shown he doesn’t have any understanding of how the mRNA technology works — twisting the fact that mRNA is mutation-specific into somehow being a bad thing is just plain asinine. Yes, it’s specific to certain strains; AND it’s the most easily updated vaccine technology we have, that can be reprogrammed to combat new strains as they arrive. Plus how rich is it that RFK is now trying to pass himself off as supportive of “safer, broader” vaccines? Ultimately, though, I don’t even buy it. I think singling out mRNA is just his first move towards achieving his dream of tanking vaccines altogether.
But I expect all this from RFK. I’d like to hear what Senator Doctor Bill Cassidy has to say for himself and his ill-advised confirmation of RFK now.
