Shefali Luthra
Reproductive Health Reporter
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week defunded research in messenger RNA vaccines, which could create a chilling effect that could jeopardize efforts to develop vaccines against breast cancer, experts said.
The government is cancelling almost $500 million in 22 research contracts previously granted through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a subsidiary of HHS. In addition, HHS will not initiate new grants for projects involving messenger RNA, the revolutionary basis for COVID-19 immunizations. The scientists who helped discover mRNA technology won the 2023 Nobel Prize for Medicine ; no vaccine has ever been so quickly developed and