The Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday that it would cancel nearly half a billion dollars in mRNA vaccine contracts, including with a company based in the East Bay — a move that experts said was based on unfounded safety concerns.

After Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the department would wind down its investments in the technology first used to vaccinate against COVID-19 , experts called the move “frightening” and said it could hamper biomedical companies’ ability to prepare for future virus outbreaks.

“Have we already forgotten this quickly what these vaccines actually did for us during COVID-19? How many lives they saved — millions of lives,” asked Dr. Abraar Karan, who researches emerging vaccinations against COVID-19, bird fl

See Full Page