The US health secretary is cutting funding for mRNA vaccines because he claims they are less effective than other types – but that's not what the evidence shows

US Health and Human Services is “winding down” its mRNA vaccine development and will instead fund other vaccine platforms through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, the agency said Tuesday.

Although mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. incorrectly argued they are ineffective to justify the Department of Health and Human Service's recent decision to cancel $500 million in government-funded research projects to develop new vaccines using the technology.