OAN Staff Blake Wolf
2:47 PM – Friday, June 6, 2025
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the termination of $766 million provided to Moderna to develop more mRNA vaccines, prompting scrutiny and heavy backlash from former Biden administration officials.
Former health officials and other government officials under the Biden administration have argued that developing more mRNA vaccines are crucial due to “potential pandemic flu viruses” that could arise in the near future. However, they refrained from specifying why the vaccines must be mRNA, as opposed to conventional vaccine technologies.
“The administration’s actions are gutting our deterrence from biological threats,” said Beth Cameron, a senior adviser to the Brown University Pandemic Center and a former director at the White House National Security Council. “Canceling this investment is a signal that we are changing our posture on pandemic preparedness,” she added, “and that is not good for the American people.”
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Nonetheless, the HHS announcement cited a lack of oversight and long-term testing stemming from the previous Democrat administration as a reason for the cancellation.
Messenger RNA vaccines, also known as mRNA, were previously utilized by pharmaceutical companies to create the COVID-19 vaccines, which have since been highly criticized for their adverse side effects.
“After a rigorous review, we concluded that continued investment in Moderna’s H5N1 mRNA vaccines was not scientifically or ethically justifiable,” stated HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon. “This is not simply about efficacy – it’s about safety, integrity, and trust. The reality is that mRNA technology remains under-tested, and we are not going to spend taxpayer dollars repeating the mistakes of the last administration, which concealed legitimate safety concerns from the public,” he added.
The cancellation further underscores the Trump administration’s evolving vaccine policy, reflecting a departure from the Biden administration’s approach to COVID-19—an approach that contributed to growing public skepticism toward mRNA vaccine technology in the United States.
Soon after, Moderna responded to the announcement, arguing that the cancellation “adds uncertainty.”
“While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in this interim analysis of the Phase ½ study of our H5 avian flu vaccine and we will explore alternative paths forward for the program,” stated Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s Chief Executive Officer.
“These clinical data in pandemic influenza underscore the critical role mRNA technology has played as a countermeasure to emerging health threats,” she added.
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