August 06, 2025

Technology advanced by Penn scientists led to COVID shots. Five years later, RFK Jr. is slashing mRNA vaccine research

The Health and Human Services secretary canceled nearly $500 million in contracts related to the development of future therapeutics.

By Kristin Hunt
PhillyVoice Staff

Adam Schultz/Official White House photo

The Trump administration is cutting nearly $500 million for mRNA vaccine research, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says. The technology, advanced by Penn scientists, formed the basis for COVID-19 shots.

The Trump administration is canceling numerous contracts and pharmaceutical proposals advancing mRNA vaccine research, officials announced Tuesday night.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said the withdrawals marked a "coordinated wind-down" of mRNA vaccine development. The technology, advanced at Penn Medicine by Nobel Prize-winning scientists Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, formed the basis of the Pfizer and Moderna immunizations against COVID-19. Kennedy said the cuts will affect 22 projects, collectively worth nearly $500 million in funding.

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While final-stage contracts with the biotech companies Amplitude and Arcturus will proceed, the HHS will not begin any new mRNA projects under its Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority moving forward. The federal department also is withdrawing equity investments in mRNA.

Many traditional vaccines use weakened or dead versions of a virus to produce immunity, but Penn Medicine notes the development process can be lengthy and expensive. By contrast, mRNA vaccines rely on a genetic code to instruct the body's cells to make proteins that train the immune system.

Kennedy claimed, without evidence, that he was canceling the projects "because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu." Large-scale studies have found mRNA vaccines, including the coronavirus shots produced by Pfizer and Moderna, to be safe and effective.

This shift continues the Trump administration's increasingly anti-immunization stance under Kennedy, a vocal skeptic who has espoused debunked theories linking vaccines to autism. Earlier this spring, the Federal Drug Administration said it would only make COVID-19 vaccines available to older adults and those with medical conditions that put them at risk of severe complications.

Penn Medicine did not immediately respond to request for comment on the cancellations, or Kennedy's claims about mRNA vaccine efficacy.

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