WASHINGTON (WLS) -- Medical experts in the Chicago area are weighing in on the decision by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to cancel $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine development .

The technology was used to develop vaccines during the pandemic that helped to curb COVID-19.

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It is a decades-old technology that doctors say helped save lives and kept people out of hospitals during the COVID pandemic, but government funding is being slashed for vaccines developed with mRNA.

The University of Illinois Chicago was on the front lines for testing the COVID vaccine. The infectious diseases department led trials for vaccines developed with mRNA technology.

The M stands for messenger. It's role is to

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