Vaccines<\/p>\n
Respiratory viruses<\/p>\n
Donald Trump<\/p>\n
Corporate news<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n Facebook<\/p>\n Tweet<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Email Link<\/p>\n \n This week, President Donald Trump called Operation Warp Speed<\/a>, a public-private federal program that helped speed up the development and distribution of mRNA Covid-19 vaccines in record time \u201cone of the most incredible things ever done in this country.\u201d It was just a day after US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced<\/a> the federal government was canceling a half-billion dollars in investments into the same technology, saying no new mRNA projects will be initiated under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.\n <\/p>\n \n Vaccine and preparedness experts said the decision could be disastrous for the United States, rendering another Operation Warp Speed impossible in case of threat from disease or bioweapons.\n <\/p>\n \n Kennedy, who has a long history<\/a> of spreading vaccine misinformation, incorrectly suggested in his announcement that mRNA vaccine technology is ineffective, unsafe and unethical \u2014 comments that experts worry will put a chill on development even beyond the projects the government cut.\n <\/p>\n \n In a statement<\/a> about the cancellation, Kennedy said the decision was based on a review of science and expert opinions.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cLet me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,\u201d Kennedy said in this week\u2019s announcement. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Kennedy said funding will be shifted \u201ctoward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,\u201d such as whole virus vaccines, which use a weakened or deactivated version of a virus to trigger immunity. China developed a whole virus Covid-19 vaccine, but studies showed it wasn\u2019t nearly as effective<\/a> as the mRNA vaccines.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI wonder why we want to try and go back to the way it was in the 1940s when we had vaccines, but it took a really long time to make them,\u201d Dr. Cynthia Leifer, a professor of immunology<\/a> at Cornell University said.\n <\/p>\n \n She equates the abandonment of mRNA research at this point to partially paying for a kitchen remodel and stopping to save money after the walls have been demolished.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou\u2019d be out your money and you don\u2019t have a kitchen,\u201d Leifer said.\n <\/p>\n \n The mRNA vaccine platform is uniquely suited to protect a country during a pandemic, said Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center<\/a> at the Brown University School of Public Health. Not knowing what will cause the next pandemic, she said, \u201cmRNA vaccines offer real flexibility that other vaccine approaches don\u2019t.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n For a flu vaccine, for example, makers use eggs<\/a> to grow the virus. It\u2019s a complicated process that may require several months to make enough, Nuzzo said. But mRNA vaccines can be developed much faster, sometimes even in days, and don\u2019t require time to grow virus cultures.\n <\/p>\n \n When making an mRNA vaccine, scientists take messenger RNA, a single strand of the genetic code, that can teach cells how \u201cread\u201d and make a protein that triggers an immune response.\n <\/p>\n \n Dr. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, said the decision to \u201cwind down\u201d the government\u2019s investment in mRNA vaccines is one of the worst public health decisions in decades, particularly for pandemic preparedness.\n <\/p>\n \n Osterholm, who is the founding director<\/a> of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy<\/a> and author of the forthcoming book \u201cThe Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics,\u201d<\/a> said vaccines are a \u201cvery, very small part of the pharmaceutical industry\u2019s portfolio\u201d since there\u2019s not a lot of profit in vaccines. It\u2019s government money that drives companies to make them.\n <\/p>\n \n Some mRNA projects are funded through other parts of the government, but Kennedy\u2019s announcement may undermine mRNA vaccines in general.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe constant undercutting of support for vaccines is really a challenge. So the damage was twofold,\u201d Osterholm said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf we had another pandemic today, we would have to watch large parts of the world not get vaccinated for several years and based on what\u2019s just happened, the United States would probably be at the end of the line, not the head of the line like it was in Covid.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Nuzzo said it\u2019s possible another pandemic may not happen during Trump\u2019s term, but the decision leaves the US vulnerable in another way: Retreat from investment in mRNA vaccines may even be seen as an opening for an attack.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cDefense posturing and defense preparation are the best form of deterrence for a biological attack,\u201d she said.\u201cIt sends a bad signal to our adversaries about our commitments to protecting ourselves and our vulnerabilities to attack, let alone it stifles medical innovation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Leaders in the Trump administration have pushed to bring drug manufacturing to the United States but experts say the choice to stop investing in mRNA vaccines will do the opposite.\n <\/p>\n
\n See all topics<\/p>\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n