Now that our Department of Health and Human Services (D-HHS) is being run by someone with no scientific background or training and touts pseudoscience and fringe ideas, we are facing a potential health crisis.

For those who don’t know, the D-HHS, run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is the larger department that encapsulates the following:

National Institutes of Health (NIH) which is essentially a whole bunch of individual institutes and centers that all conduct research into living systems (human, animal, mental health, aging, allergy, eye, review boards, environmental health, etc.)

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) who “ensure the safety and effectiveness of human and veterinary medicines, biologics, and medical devices” and “regulate the safety of food, cosmetics, devices that emit radiation, and tobacco products”.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who are essentially involved with disease and threat detection, surveillance, and prevention.

In addition to these three, there are 26 other offices and departments, some of which include offices that run children and family health and safety, tobacco and other substance abuse services, medicare and medicaid, tribal health for native people of the United States (strangely, still called Indian Health Services), so on and so forth. For a full list, you can find them here.

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But this isn’t the point of this post. What I want to talk about is the defunding of our mRNA vaccine research and what it means. The only mRNA vaccines on the market at this time are two COVID-19 vaccines (although, defunding the research means other potential losses in vaccines for other diseases – communicable and noncommunicable, such as cancer). Anyone reading this post has already done their internet research and made up their minds about how they feel about the covid vaccine, for better or for worse, so I’m not here to convince you. That would be a waste of time. Rather, what I find myself going over and over in my head is how blatant this administration is being with their politicization of public health. Something that generally existed outside of politics.

In a Washington Post OpEd Jay Bhattacharya, the new director of the NIH, stated the reasons for why they will end funding for mRNA technology, at least as it pertains to the COVID-19 vaccine. He said:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to wind down its mRNA vaccine development activities marks a necessary pivot in how we steward public health innovations in vaccines. The right path requires us to consider the inherent strengths and weaknesses of a technology as well as any alternatives, along with public attitudes and experience with the technology.

The mRNA platform is promising technology. I do not dispute its potential. In the future, it may yet deliver breakthroughs in treating diseases such as cancer, and HHS is continuing to invest in ongoing research on applications in oncology and other complex diseases. But as a vaccine intended for broad public use, especially during a public health emergency, the platform has failed a crucial test: earning public trust. No matter how elegant the science, a platform that lacks credibility among the people it seeks to protect cannot fulfill its public health mission.

On its face, it sounds logical and rational – a business and fiscal decision. That is, until you realise that Dr. Bhattacharya was selected by RFK Jr. because of his stance on vaccines during the active pandemic. A participant of the Great Barrington Declaration, he and other public health officials diverted from their peers, pushing an idea early on that we should go about business as usual in order to develop “natural” herd immunity. He was outspoken against the vaccines from the start, contributing to the narrative that they are dangerous and ineffective, fueling an anti-vaccine movement that was already looking for legitimacy. Essentially, he was an active member in dismantling said public trust in the vaccine.

A highly effective, coordinated campaign to disrupt the public opinion and faith in science and vaccine technology (specifically mRNA – of which the majority of people don’t properly understand, despite their feelings to the contrary) followed by the appointment of anti-vax leadership is not happenstance. It was deliberate, or, at the very least, convenient enough to implement.

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Part of scientific research is flexibility. Admitting when something more effective has come along or knowing when something is no longer working. There is no doubt that certain measures proved ineffective or, at the very least, could have been handled differently (children having access to school or playgrounds, perhaps, or presenting a clearer message about the virus, prevention measures, and the vaccine).

When it comes to the vaccines, however, the data show clear results in reducing symptoms and slowing the spread (see articles at the bottom of this post) and is, therefor, effective at preventing and stopping a pandemic and controlling a disease that would otherwise inundate an already fractured healthcare system. And, sadly, this defunding means there will be no access for the millions or more of Americans who wish to continue receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. It also means that we will no longer be aiming to enhance the technology, whilst simultaneously maintaining a solid, effective blueprint for any other potential mRNA vaccines against other zoonotic diseases – new, emerging, or created.

CRISPR technology still exists in the basement laboratories of nefarious actors; China and other countries still operate wet markets with a high affinity for disease transmission and food-borne illness; and humans are still rapidly encroaching into natural environments whilst our anthropogenic activities alter the climate in unprecedented ways. Ceasing all mRNA research as it pertains to COVID and other zoonotic disease is irresponsible and dangerous.

I am always walking a fine line between alarmist feelings and rational concern. I’m not sure there is much of a difference when we are dealing with such uncertainty and epic failure by our governmental leadership. Nearly every appointee in this administration has not earned their position, nor were they qualified to begin with – at least, not beyond the “I have an opinion about something that panders to Trump’s beliefs”.

Outside of the glaring problems within our society (poor early education, individualism, and capitalism), one of our biggest hinderances is our lack of understanding towards community health, public health, and individual health and how these all translate into action, policies, and results. Unfortunately, that’s another topic for which I currently do not have time. I realize that sometimes it is hard to change your mind, especially if it is an idea that has served you for a long time. I find it best to remain agnostic, and make decisions based on current information, allowing more flexibility in my thinking – as best I can, anyhow. My advice to anyone reading this: just stay curious.

In the words of Hermione Granger, here is a bit of light reading:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8148145/#:~:text=Abstract,first%20and%20second%20doses%2C%20respectively.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9047227/

https://ann-clinmicrob.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12941-023-00594-y