United States Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has announced that the US is to cut funding for mRNA vaccine development – a move that health experts say is “dangerous” and could make the US much more vulnerable to future outbreaks of respiratory viruses like COVID-19.Kennedy is known for his vaccine scepticism and recently ousted all 17 members of a scientific advisory panel on vaccines at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be replaced with his own selections. However, this latest announcement is just part of a series of moves by President Donald Trump himself that appear to target the vaccine industry and give increasing weight to the arguments of vaccine sceptics in the US.Trump has previously undermined the efficacy of vaccines and sought to cut funding to vaccine programmes. Public health experts sounded the alarm after his election win in November, warning there would likely be a “war on vaccines” under Trump.“My main concern is that this is part of an increasingly ideological rather than evidence-based approach to healthcare and vaccination in particular that is being adopted in the US,” David Elliman, associate professor at University College London, told Al Jazeera.“This is likely to increase vaccine hesitancy … [and] will result in more suffering and death, particularly for children. This would be a tragedy, even more so because it is avoidable.”What new cuts to vaccine funding have been made?In a statement posted on Tuesday on X, Kennedy said 22 projects on mRNA vaccine development worth nearly $500m will be cance …
