RKF Jr. cancels half-billion in mRNA vaccine research funding

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

As Covid cases rise in US, RKF Jr sparks uproar as he cancels half-billion dollar in funding for mRNA vaccines

06 August, 2025

 

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has planned to cancel $500m (£376m) in funding for mRNA vaccines being developed to counter viruses that cause diseases such as the flu and Covid-19. The health department has said it plans to terminate 22 federal contracts for mRNA-based vaccines, safety of a technology credited with helping end the Covid pandemic and saving millions of lives.

...

They [the canceled contracts] include proposals from Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur and other drugmakers that were rejected or canceled, along with a now-shuttered award to Moderna to develop a bird flu vaccine, according to an HHS statement.

 

 

(more)

 

 

Economic Times

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/us-news-as-covid-cases-rise-in-us-rkf-jr-sparks-uproar-as-he-cancels-half-billion-dollar-in-funding-for-mrna-vaccines/articleshow/123142286.cms

[Red Phoenix]

Great News, thanks for posting it!

[Stiddle Mump]

2 hours ago, Red Phoenix said:

Great News, thanks for posting it!

Indeed!

 

A small step in the right direction. Lots more to do.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

17 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

safety of a technology credited with helping end the Covid pandemic and saving millions of lives.

 

Oh ya... RFK Jr. and his anti-vax zeal is a true over-the-top nutjob whom Trump has appointed to head (dismantle) the U.S. HHS and its constituent entities like the CDC and NIH...

 

And it says a lot about those here who admire him...being a serial and chronic misinformer who now is using his nonsense beliefs to (mis)direct U.S. health policies.

 

"Since 2018, NewsGuard has tracked the health-related claims promoted by Kennedy and his Children’s Health Defense anti-vaccine nonprofit. What follows are the provably false claims he has promoted, assembled in what we call The RFK Jr. Healthcare Claims Depository.  

  

In all, NewsGuard has to date identified 110 provably false claims that have been advanced by Kennedy and Children’s Health Defense, involving topics from COVID-19 vaccines to bird flu to the safety of fluoride in drinking water." [emphasis added]

 

https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/overview-748

 

It's hardly a good thing when RFK Jr. is attempting to abandon an effective health treatment method (mRNA vaccines) that as stated in the OP has been credited with saving millions of lives during the COVID pandemic, and already was being explored as a means to combat other diseases including cancer.

 

[rattlesnake]

3 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

has been credited with saving millions of lives

That's a demonstrable lie, you should watch the Senate hearing on the matter:

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Another in your predictable stable of serial misinformers, a guy who lost his medical board certifications over peddling COVID misinformation and now works of a private company pitching bogus COVID treatments and cures.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/MedPageToday/posts/the-american-board-of-internal-medicine-abim-revoked-the-board-certification-of-/995998815891830/

 

 

https://www.factcheck.org/person/peter-mccullough/

 

[Stiddle Mump]

33 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

It's hardly a good thing when RFK Jr. is attempting to abandon an effective health treatment method (mRNA vaccines) that as stated in the OP has been credited with saving millions of lives during the COVID pandemic, and already was being explored as a means to combat other diseases including cancer.

RFK jr is moving slow. He is not getting to grips with the main US health problems.

 

Early days yet, I know, but the PREP act has to be halted. ALL the trials have to be redone. With independent observers and controls. Including the 1954 Enders one; that established future procedures for virus isolation and purification.

[rattlesnake]

19 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Another in your predictable stable of serial misinformers, a guy who lost his medical board certifications over peddling COVID misinformation and now works of a private company pitching bogus COVID treatments and cures.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/MedPageToday/posts/the-american-board-of-internal-medicine-abim-revoked-the-board-certification-of-/995998815891830/

 

 

https://www.factcheck.org/person/peter-mccullough/

 

I respectfully encourage you to step out of your safe space and watch the US Senate hearing on this issue, with Ron Johnson laying out a lot of facts which can help you nuance your view. There is obviously a lot of corruption going on, which only a very stubbornly blinkered person would ignore.

 

https://www.congress.gov/event/119th-congress/senate-event/336985

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Another in your predictable stable of prolific COVID misinformation peddlers, in this case, a right-wing Trumpy Republican politician with a long history of spreading COVID misinformation:

 

Fact-checking Sen. Ron Johnson’s anti-vaccine misinformation

May 10, 2021

 

"Under the guise of “just asking the questions,” Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin spread anti-vaccine misinformation on a right-wing radio show Thursday, questioning why efforts were being made to vaccinate the general US population, especially young people and those who had previously been infected with Covid-19"

 

(more)

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/07/politics/ron-johnson-vaccine-misinformation-fact-check

 

 

Four Pinocchios for Ron Johnson’s campaign of vaccine misinformation

July 16, 2021

 

"For months, the senator has been peddling misinformation about coronavirus vaccines, undeterred by fact checkers, federal health agencies, medical experts and a growing body of scientific research.

 

We previously dug into two Johnson claims that resurfaced in this interview on Fox News, a network whose right-wing personalities consistently bash the Biden administration’s vaccination efforts.

 

More cases and research studies have accumulated since our fact checks were published, but Johnson’s statements remain unsupported by science."

 

(more)

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/16/four-pinocchios-ron-johnsons-campaign-vaccine-misinformation/

 

etc etc etc...

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Picking 'the least desirable technology'

"Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, publisher of CIDRAP News, calls RFK's decision one of the worst decisions he's seen in 50 years of public health preparedness work.

...

Andrew Pekosz, PhD, professor and vice chair at Johns Hopkins University, said on X that while mRNA vaccine technology isn't perfect, "it's a critical improvement over many existing vax platforms. This sets back vaccine science by a decade."

...

Jerome Adams, MD, former US surgeon general, said on X that he's tried to remain "objective and non-alarmist in response to current HHS actions, "but quite frankly, this move is going to cost lives."

 

(more)

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/hhs-scraps-further-work-life-saving-mrna-vaccine-platform

 

[Stiddle Mump]

On 8/7/2025 at 10:38 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Andrew Pekosz, PhD, professor and vice chair at Johns Hopkins University, said on X that while mRNA vaccine technology isn't perfect, "it's a critical improvement over many existing vax platforms.

Says a lot about the previous then? The mRNA toxic filth is a 'critical improvement'.

[mogandave]

Pfizer made over $80 billion on covid, and they are going to stop research if they don’t get $100 million from the public teat. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

9 hours ago, mogandave said:

Pfizer made over $80 billion on covid, and they are going to stop research if they don’t get $100 million from the public teat. 

 

And you have a credible source you can post here to support your vague claim above, of course???

 

I don't know what your use of the term "made" is supposed to mean... If you mean revenues (sales), then I would expect the figure to be a large one, since Pfizer's mRNA COVID vaccine became the most widely used of its kind worldwide, and has been credited with saving millions of lives.

 

Last time I checked, NO ONE develops and produces medicines and medical treatments for free. Someone always is going to have to pay for them. And in the case of the COVID vaccines, fortunately, in large part, it was governments who footed the bill, and not individual recipients.

 

As one example, I received multiple COVID vaccine shots here in Thailand during the course of the pandemic, and I only paid for two out of I think eight total shots over the past 4-1/2 years. The others were provided to me, and others, free of charge by the Thai government. Hard to complain about that.

 

Also, Pfizer is a very big company, and has many products they produce and sell that have absolutely nothing to do with COVID.

 

According to their 2024 annual report, they had annual revenues (sales) for the year of about $63 billion and income of about $8 billion... again, that's from all of their ventures, not just COVID-related. Again, "revenue" is sales, not profits.

 

 

https://annualreview.pfizer.com/

 

From Pfizer:

 

Patient Impact

"In 2022, through our Purpose Blueprint, we set one of our boldest-ever goals as a company: to change the lives of one billion people a year by 2027.

 

In 2024, we continued working toward this ambition, with our medicines and vaccines reaching more than 414 million patients around the world.^1"  [emphasis added]

 

[mogandave]

2 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

And you have a credible source you can post here to support your vague claim above, of course???

 

I don't know what your use of the term "made" is supposed to mean... If you mean revenues (sales), then I would expect the figure to be a large one, since Pfizer's mRNA COVID vaccine became the most widely used of its kind worldwide, and has been credited with saving millions of lives.

 

Last time I checked, NO ONE develops and produces medicines and medical treatments for free. Someone always is going to have to pay for them. And in the case of the COVID vaccines, fortunately, in large part, it was governments who footed the bill, and not individual recipients.

 

As one example, I received multiple COVID vaccine shots here in Thailand during the course of the pandemic, and I only paid for two out of I think eight total shots over the past 4-1/2 years. The others were provided to me, and others, free of charge by the Thai government. Hard to complain about that.

 

Also, Pfizer is a very big company, and has many products they produce and sell that have absolutely nothing to do with COVID.

 

According to their 2024 annual report, they had annual revenues (sales) for the year of about $63 billion and income of about $8 billion... again, that's from all of their ventures, not just COVID-related. Again, "revenue" is sales, not profits.

 

 

https://annualreview.pfizer.com/

 

From Pfizer:

 

Patient Impact

"In 2022, through our Purpose Blueprint, we set one of our boldest-ever goals as a company: to change the lives of one billion people a year by 2027.

 

In 2024, we continued working toward this ambition, with our medicines and vaccines reaching more than 414 million patients around the world.^1"  [emphasis added]

 

So they were still making billions on it in 2024. 

 

When was covid again? 

 

How many new billionaires did it create?

 

Remember how Biden lied and tried to take credit for the Trump vaccine(s)?  That was hilarious.

 

 

[Jim Blue]

Bleach sales are going up !

[mogandave]

17 minutes ago, Jim Blue said:

Bleach sales are going up !

Yeah, I heard Jussie Smollett is back on the street

[novacova]

On 8/6/2025 at 9:21 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

As Covid cases rise in US, RKF Jr sparks uproar as he cancels half-billion dollar in funding for mRNA vaccines

Good, about time that someone shuts down the mRNA gene therapy Frankenvax freak show.

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, novacova said:

Good, about time that someone shuts down the mRNA gene therapy Frankenvax freak show.

I wouldn't mind shutting it down if there were good arguments. However all arguments so far are clearly falsehoods.