U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday canceled projects worth nearly $500 million for vaccine development using mRNA technology. He defended that action while speaking at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
“The mRNA vaccines, we know from COVID, don't work against upper respiratory infections,” he told reporters. “They don't work very well — Let me put it that way.”
Kennedy is a long-time skeptic of the scientific consensus on vaccines. Reports published in peer-reviewed journals have found COVID-19 vaccines, using mRNA technology, to be highly effective. Kennedy said mRNA vaccines might be useful for cancers and diseases other than respiratory infections.
Alaska’s U.S. senators flanked Kennedy as he spoke. Both voted to confirm him in February, though Sen. Lisa Murkowski said at the time she was concerned about his “selective interpretation of scientific studies.” She said Tuesday she didn’t agree with some of his actions, such as dismissing the entire Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices and installing new members, some with controversial views.
“I am a strong believer that vaccines save lives,” Murkowski said, “as I believe the secretary himself has stated.”
Kennedy, as secretary, has sometimes spoken of vaccines as a crucial public health tool but also undermined their credibility.
He just happened to be in Anchorage on the day his agency announced he was canceling mRNA vaccine development contracts. It’s the season for cabinet secretaries to visit Alaska, and the secretaries of Homeland Security, Housing and Transportation are coming next week, Sen. Dan Sullivan explained.
“We have a lot of people — a lot of cabinet officials, sub-cabinet officials, admirals, generals — that we're going to be hosting in Alaska in August,” he said. “It's an exciting time.”
Unlike most cabinet members, Kennedy has visited Alaska many times. He came in years past to campaign for environmental causes. He also says he feels committed to carry on the work of his father and uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, to improve the lives of Indigenous people.
Outside the building, Susan Soule was among several dozen people who came to protest Secretary Kennedy.
“My sign says, ‘Respect the science. Vaccines save lives.’ That's why I'm here,” she said. Kennedy, she said, “has not given any sign that he respects science. He's killing people by what he's doing to vaccines and the research.”
The medical campus where Kennedy spoke has for years championed vaccines to improve community wellness. In late 2020, the Alaska Native health care system led the rest of the state on COVID-19 vaccination.
