WaNPRC Director, Dr Deborah Fuller is out with a new piece in The Conversation pointing out that misinformation about mRNA vaccine science is driving poor federal policy decisions that she says could slow innovation, weaken pandemic readiness, and ultimately cost lives.
Her piece lands on the same day Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy testified before the Senate finance Committee. He faced questions from the Senate on a sudden shakeup at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as recent HHS cuts of more than $500M to 22 research contracts on mRNA vaccine technology in favor of older “whole-virus” technology.
“As a vaccinologist who has studied and developed vaccines for over 35 years, I see that the science behind mRNA vaccine technology is being widely misstated. This incorrect information is shaping long-term health policy in the U.S. – which makes it urgent to control the record,” she wrote.
Her piece lays out evidence countering misinformation that mRNA vaccines are unsafe, that their side effects cause health problems, and that mRNA vaccines create Covid-resistance or cause new variants.
She compares ditching mRNA for whole-virus vaccine technology is a public health gamble, that will be slower, harder, and at a higher cost in preventable disease and lives.
Read her whole piece in The Conversation.