CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The Trump administration started to cut funding from messenger ribonucleic acid vaccine research earlier this month, impacting more than 20 contracts for vaccine development.

Biotechnology company Moderna has more than 10 sites across South Carolina, with eight sites in the Charleston area researching and testing medicines that utilize mRNA.

“So it could set it back and literally cost lives. The longer we delay these treatments,” James Chappell, President and Chief Executive Officer of SCBio, said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cut $500 million worth of funding for mRNA projects.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the mRNA vaccines have failed to protect people from upper respiratory infections.

But Chapp

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