National Institutes of Health officials have urged scientists to remove all references to mRNA vaccine technology from their grant applications, two researchers said, in a move that signaled the agency might abandon a promising field of medical research.
The mRNA technology is under study at the NIH for prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, including flu and AIDS, and also cancer. It was deployed in the development of covid-19 vaccines credited with saving 3 million lives in the U.S. alone — an accomplishment President Donald Trump bragged about in his first term.
A scientist at a biomedical research center in Philadelphia wrote to a colleague, in an email reviewed by KFF Health News, that a project officer at NIH had “flagged our pending grant as having an mRNA vaccine component.”
NIH officials also told a senior NIH-funded vaccine scientist in New York state, who does not conduct mRNA vaccine research but described its efficacy in previous grant applications, that all references to mRNA vaccines should be scrubbed from future applications.
Scientists relayed their experiences on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional retaliation by the Trump administration.
A senior official at the National Cancer Institute confirmed that NIH acting Director Matthew Memoli sent an email across the NIH instructing that any grants, contracts, or collaborations involving mRNA vaccines be reported up the chain to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s office and the White House.
Meanwhile, hundreds of other vaccine-related studies are in limbo. Kawsar Talaat, a vaccine researcher at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, has been waiting since the fall for money needed to recruit subjects for a study of an antidiarrheal vaccine.
Posted by John3262005
4 Comments
Next they will tell you that vaccines were made by bad people and for that reason you shouldn’t get them
3 years ago my aunt died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Her only hope for survival was the at the time very early clinical trials on the mrna stuff. It didn’t work for her sadly, but seeing the progress that had been made did create a little bit of solace for my cousins and myself. That she had helped contribute to the advancement of science that could one day end these horrible diseases. Well along comes the President
https://preview.redd.it/ef1hrb3y39pe1.jpeg?width=1704&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f3aec4e31ee65fb320af06a20429914a9c7c6db8
RFK Jr. is a terrible person who’s going to get thousands if not millions of people killed.