Breaking down how a massive U.S. funding cut could impact future mRNA vaccines – CBC

Aug 08, 2025

The Trump administration says it is pulling half a billion dollars from U.S. government-funded research projects to create new mRNA vaccines.

In a statement this week, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic, announced a “co-ordinated wind-down” amounting to the cancellation of $500 million worth of mRNA vaccine development under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

The technology itself was hailed as recently as the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2023, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to two scientists whose mRNA discoveries made it possible to create COVID-19 vaccinations. The committee credited mRNA technology with helping to save millions of lives, prevent severe COVID-19, reduce disease burden and enable societies worldwide to reopen.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/mrna-vaccine-barda-explainer-1.7602830