berg80
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- Oct 28, 2017
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"This may be the most dangerous public health judgment that I've seen in my 50 years in this business," says Michael Osterholm, who runs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "It is baseless, and we will pay a tremendous price in terms of illnesses and deaths. I'm extremely worried about it."
The federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which oversees the nation's defenses against biological attacks, is terminating 22 contracts with university researchers and private companies to develop new uses for the mRNA technology, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday.
The mRNA technology was used by the first Trump administration to create the most commonly used COVID-19 vaccines, which are widely considered a medical triumph that safely and effectively saved millions of lives. But vaccine mandates during the pandemic sowed fierce antipathy toward the technology, leading to widespread public opposition.
I think it's fair to say the decisions made by a renown anti-vaxxer with a history of.........let's say questionable judgement.........deserve to be scrutinized.
Jennifer Nuzzo strongly disagrees. She runs the Brown University School of Public Health's Pandemic Center and says the move could erode preparedness for future pandemics.
"This is a profoundly disappointing development," she says. "When there's the next pandemic, we're going to be caught flat-footed. It absolutely leaves the country vulnerable."
If we do have to endure another pandemic I hope the next person running HHS reverses Bobby's decision for the sake of the thousands of lives it could save. There is simply no way a vaccine could have been developed so quickly without mNRA technology. The trump government seems not to care.
Public health experts dismayed by RFK Jr.'s defunding of mRNA vaccine research
The Trump administration is canceling almost $500 million in contracts to develop mRNA vaccines to protect the U.S. against future viral threats. The move thrilled critics of the technology but horrified many public health and biosecurity experts.The federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which oversees the nation's defenses against biological attacks, is terminating 22 contracts with university researchers and private companies to develop new uses for the mRNA technology, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday.
The mRNA technology was used by the first Trump administration to create the most commonly used COVID-19 vaccines, which are widely considered a medical triumph that safely and effectively saved millions of lives. But vaccine mandates during the pandemic sowed fierce antipathy toward the technology, leading to widespread public opposition.
I think it's fair to say the decisions made by a renown anti-vaxxer with a history of.........let's say questionable judgement.........deserve to be scrutinized.
Jennifer Nuzzo strongly disagrees. She runs the Brown University School of Public Health's Pandemic Center and says the move could erode preparedness for future pandemics.
"This is a profoundly disappointing development," she says. "When there's the next pandemic, we're going to be caught flat-footed. It absolutely leaves the country vulnerable."
If we do have to endure another pandemic I hope the next person running HHS reverses Bobby's decision for the sake of the thousands of lives it could save. There is simply no way a vaccine could have been developed so quickly without mNRA technology. The trump government seems not to care.