U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s decision to cancel $500 million worth of federal contracts for developing mRNA vaccines swiftly drew condemnation, including from a former Trump surgeon general.
“I’ve tried to be objective & non-alarmist in response to current HHS actions – but quite frankly this move is going to cost lives,” said Jerome Adams, who served as U.S. surgeon general during President Donald Trump‘s first term in office. He added, “mRNA technology has uses that go far beyond vaccines… and the vaccine they helped develop in record time is credited with saving millions.”
On Tuesday, Secretary Kennedy announced the start of HHS’s “wind-down of its mRNA vaccine development activities,” which includes canceling nearly two dozen federal contracts with biotech companies and research labs.
“We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” Kennedy said in a statement. “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.”
The top Trump health official and longtime vaccine skeptic added, “Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them. That’s why we’re moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions.”
Adams, who, as surgeon general in 2020, was criticized for comparing COVID-19 to the flu during the Trump administration’s initial response to the pandemic, said in response to the vaccine rescissions, “We should be doubling down on what works – not defunding it.” He continued, “We need constructive dialogue vs destructive idealogues. America has always led the world in biomedical innovation. Let’s not let fear or politics derail progress. Let science lead. Lives are depending on it.”
HHS says the decision on mRNA vaccines is part of a broader shift in “development priorities,” moving toward focusing on “platforms with stronger safety records and transparent clinical and manufacturing data practices.”
However, Adams pushed back against the suggestion that mRNA vaccines are unsafe.
“600 million mRNA COVID doses have been safely given in U.S. alone. The data is clear: mRNA vaccines have a strong safety record,” he explained. “We shouldn’t ignore concerns, yet risks of COVID far outweigh rare side effects. Calling them ‘inherently dangerous’ ignores science & risks lives.”
“If it were not for mRNA research that existed before the pandemic, COVID vaccines would not have been developed in ‘record time,’” said Adams, who is board-certified in anesthesiology and served as a health commissioner in Indiana. The former Trump official noted that “millions of lives” were saved.
“Cutting half a billion in mRNA funding, as HHS Sec. Kennedy proposes, isn’t just bad policy – it’s dangerous,” he said.
