The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya has revealed that the federal government has recently canceled millions of dollars worth of mRNA research contracts due to a significant lack of public trust in the technology. This assertion was made during an episode of Republican political strategist Steve Bannon’s podcast “War Room” last week, as well as in an op-ed published in The Washington Post.
In his op-ed, Bhattacharya described the mRNA platform as a “promising technology” that holds potential for breakthroughs in treating diseases such as cancer. However, he emphasized that, as a vaccine intended for broad public use—especially during a public health emergency—the mRNA platform has failed one critical test: earning public trust. Bhattacharya stated, “No matter how elegant the science, a platform that lacks credibility among the people it seeks to protect cannot fulfill its public health mission.”
Bhattacharya’s perspective on the government's shift away from mRNA technology contrasts sharply with that of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. Last week, Kennedy announced that the agency would wind down its mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and cancel $500 million worth of contracts related to the technology. He attributed this change to the failure of mRNA technologies, initially funded during the pandemic, to meet current scientific standards. Instead, the federal government plans to redirect its focus toward whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms.
In his article, Bhattacharya raised concerns regarding the ability of mRNA vaccines to instruct human cells to produce spike proteins to elicit an immune response. He noted that the scientific community lacks a clear understanding of the duration and location of mRNA products in the body, as well as whether other proteins are produced in the process. Scott Hensley, a microbiology professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, corroborated these concerns, stating that similar issues exist with vaccines that use live but weakened viruses, such as the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, which federal health agencies have deemed safe and effective.
“This is why we complete human clinical studies before vaccines are widely used in humans,” Hensley explained in a conversation with Stat News. He added that both the mRNA and live attenuated vaccine platforms have proven to be safe and effective in clinical trials. Bhattacharya attributed the public’s distrust in mRNA technology to the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates implemented during the pandemic. He emphasized in his op-ed, “Science isn’t propaganda. It’s humility. And when public health officials stopped communicating with humility, we lost much of the public, an absolute necessity for any vaccine platform.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services has not yet responded to a request for comment from The Hill regarding these developments.
