Former Surgeon General on HHS cancelling vaccine research: 'Over 2 million lives have been saved because of mRNA technology'

Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Sunday pushed back against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently winding down its mRNA vaccine development activities via the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

“I want to ask you about health policy because days earlier, Secretary Kennedy made an announcement that the U.S. is halting $500 million for vaccine research into that technology known as mRNA. You're very familiar with it because it was used during Operation Warp Speed to very quickly get that COVID vaccine,” CBS’s Margaret Brennan said on “Face the Nation.”

“Secretary Kennedy said, though, mRNA vaccines, quote, ‘don't work against upper respiratory infections.’ Do you know what he means? And what does stopping this research do for pandemic preparations?” she added.

“Well, that's simply not true. We know that — that by the most conservative estimates over two million lives have been saved because of mRNA technology. It helped us develop COVID-19 vaccines in record time. And it's, quite frankly, President Trump's greatest achievement,” Adams replied. 

HHS announced last Tuesday that it was winding down the BARDA mRNA vaccine development activities.

“We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a previous statement.

The reduction of the mRNA vaccine development activities features the ending of contracts with a total worth of nearly $500 million.

“BARDA is terminating 22 mRNA vaccine development investments because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu. We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,” Kennedy said.

The Hill has reached out to HHS for comment.