August 6, 2025 / 6:20 PM EDT / CBS Philadelphia
The scientific community is criticizing Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he announced he’s cutting millions from research for the technology that created the COVID-19 vaccines.
The vaccine technology, mRNA, was created in Philadelphia. Researchers said it has broad potential to fight many infections and possibly even cancer.
But Kennedy disagrees.
“mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits,” Kennedy said in his announcement on Tuesday.
“As the pandemic showed us, mRNA vaccines don’t perform well against viruses that infect the upper respiratory tract,” he added.
But many in the scientific community dispute that, saying the technology first used to create the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective.
“It certainly did decrease mortality associated with COVID. They’re also using it for potential treatment of cancer. To no longer fund this research is not a scientific approach,” Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, the president of the American Medical Association, said.
“It’s not a step forward in science,” he added.
mRNA technology works by getting the body to produce a fragment of a virus, which then sets off the body’s immune response. Unlike traditional vaccines, which can take years to develop, mRNA is fast.
“We can very quickly design new mRNA vaccines to be specifically matched to what’s circulating,” Dr. Scott Hensley, of the University of Pennsylvania, said in 2024.
CBS News Philadelphia spoke with Hensley, an immunologist at Penn, last year when the mRNA was being researched for bird flu. He called Kennedy’s decision to cut funding bad for science on Wednesday.
“Science is what moves the world forward,” Dr. Drew Weissman, a doctor at Penn, said in 2023.
Hensley and Weissman were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2023 for discovering how to modify mRNA.
In announcing the research funding cut for mRNA, Kennedy said the money would go to what he calls better vaccine research.
Kennedy said his focus is on a universal vaccine that mimics “natural immunity.”
Doctors said people need to understand that this cutback will not impact the vaccines that are currently available.
Stephanie StahlStephanie Stahl is an Emmy Award-winning health reporter. She can be seen daily on CBS News Philadelphia and Philly57.
