Howard Dean: RFK Jr.'s attack on mRNA vaccines will cost lives

he Department of Health and Human Services recently cut $500 million in mRNA research funding. “mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement, claiming that the department’s experts had “reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted.”

This is just the latest blow in the agency’s misguided efforts to wind down mRNA vaccine development. In May, HSS terminated Moderna’s contract for an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine that was awarded in 2024 by former President Joe Biden’s administration. The reason? HHS deemed that “continued investment” was not “justifiable.”

That’s an absurd conclusion. Earlier this year, Moderna announced that its experimental vaccine for bird flu — a disease that has already sickened dozens of Americans and could infect millions if it mutates further — showed enormous promise during an initial clinical trial. The company was prepared to begin late-stage development immediately, with the help of $766 million in existing government contracts.

HHS’s move to cancel this contract is pitifully illogical. Bird flu has already cost America billions — and if it mutates to allow for human-to-human transmission, the cost could soar into the hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/10/11/rfk-jr-s-attack-on-mrna-vaccines-will-cost-lives/